Germany may deploy 1,200 troops for IS fight

Germany is planning to deploy 1,200 troops to help France in the fight against Islamic State jihadists in Syria, its army chief said yesterday. "From a military point of view, around 1,200 soldiers would be necessary to run the planes and ship," army chief of staff

General Volker Wieker told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, adding that the mission would begin "very quickly once a mandate is obtained".