NATO will offer extended support to the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS radicals (outlawed in Russia) in Iraq and Syria, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
"Today, we will decide to expand our support to the Coalition. All 28 Allies are members of the Global Coalition and today, we will agree on NATO’s membership in the Coalition. But it does not mean that NATO will engage in combat operations," the NATO chief said after the organization's summit in Brussels.
"This will send a strong political message of NATO’s commitment to the fight against terrorism," Stoltenberg added.
According to the NATO chief, the organization will help in training civilian and military specialists in Iraq. The alliance will continue missions by AWACS surveillance planes to help improve airspace management for the coalition, but was not planning to engage in any kind of operations on the territory of Syria.
Until recently, NATO as an organization has not been a formal member of the coalition, but rendered various support to its partners. The alliance carries out regular surveillance flights along the Syrian-Turkish border without crossing into the Syrian airspace. In addition, NATO has been training Iraqi army officers.
A high-ranking NATO source earlier said that the decision to join the coaltition will be of both symbolic and practical significance for NATO, giving the organization access to decision-making meetings of the coalition members.
