Merkel: Islamic State among ‘most brutal threats’ to region ever

BERLIN, Germany — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday warned that Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria were one of the greatest ever threats to the region.

The radical militia “is one of the most brutal threats to the lives of the people in the region… that there has ever been,”  she told parliament, after recently attending a summit of 20 leading economies in Australia. “The IS is also attracting thousands of foreign fighters… from all G20 countries, whether it’s in the other hemisphere or here in Europe.”

“Their radical lack of inhibition and willingness to murder also threatens our security,” she said of the extremist group.

Germany believes that some 550 of its citizens have joined the jihadist cause in Iraq and Syria, of whom some 60 have died in combat or suicide attacks and about 180 have returned home.

Germany is supplying Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq with weapons, ammunition and other aid to fight the IS but says it will not join the US, Britain and other nations in airstrikes against the jihadists.

The French government said Wednesday that six Mirage fighter jets would be deployed to Jordan on Thursday to assist in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a weekly cabinet meeting that the deployment of the six fighters would “strengthen our presence in this theater of operations,” according to government spokesman Stephane Le Foll.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls had already on Sunday announced the deployment of the fighters to Jordan, to join forces against the extremist group in Iraq but the arrival of the warplanes was expected at the end of the month.

France already has nine Rafale fighter jets in the United Arab Emirates as it participates in US-led airstrikes in Iraq.

Paris has however declined to take part in operations in Syria, where IS has also overrun large swaths of territory.