Germany pulls further troops out of Middle East

Reuters:

BERLIN, March 6 – Germany has pulled additional Bundeswehr troops out of the Middle East, ​a military spokesman told Reuters on Friday, ‌the seventh day of a U.S.–Israeli war on Iran that has convulsed the region.

Soldiers deployed ​with the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon ​are being withdrawn due to the security ⁠situation, the spokesperson said after the ​Bundeswehr already sharply reduced its presence in Erbil ​in northern Iraq.

The RND newspaper network, which first reported the news, said that German troops stationed ​in Bahrain had already returned home, and ​preparations for withdrawals from Kuwait were underway. The spokesperson ‌declined ⁠to comment on this.

The RND report also said that soldiers and staff from the German embassy in Baghdad were being ​relocated to Jordan. ​The ⁠foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment from ​Reuters on the move.

Roughly 500 German ​soldiers ⁠are deployed across the region, mainly in Iraq and Jordan. Officials have recently moved ⁠personnel ​out of camps and ​reduced some contingents amid heightened security risks.