NATO: The most important combat missions of the defense alliance

2022-11-30T14:33:51.901Z

NATO: The most important combat missions of the defense alliance Created: 11/30/2022, 3:20 p.m By: Christian Stör NATO troops have intervened in several conflicts since the 1990s. An overview in pictures. 1 / 11Since it was founded on April 4, 1949, the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has changed significantly. From the alliance, which primarily served defense, it became

NATO: The most important combat missions of the defense alliance

Created: 11/30/2022, 3:20 p.m

By: Christian Stör

NATO troops have intervened in several conflicts since the 1990s.

An overview in pictures.

1 / 11Since it was founded on April 4, 1949, the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has changed significantly.

From the alliance, which primarily served defense, it became a global regulatory power.

Since the 1990s, NATO troops have intervened in several conflicts.

NATO made its first combat use in 1995. © EMMANUEL DUNAND/afp

2 / 11NATO launched its first combat mission on August 30, 1995 with Operation Deliberate Force against Serbian volunteers in the former Yugoslavia.

Officially, NATO only acted as a kind of armed arm of the UN mission in the country.

5,000 soldiers from 15 countries were involved with 400 aircraft, including 222 combat aircraft.

Fifty-four of those aircraft, flying 24 hours a day from three aircraft carriers and 18 air bases in Europe, were F-16 Fighting Falcons (pictured).

3 / 11 The operation was the first combat mission of the German Air Force since the Second World War.

14 German Tornado fighter planes flew 65 missions from Piacenza.

After the withdrawal of the heavy weapons by the Serbs and a guarantee for the remaining protection zones, the air operation ended on September 21, 1995.

NATO commander Leighton Smith (centre) and UN Balkans commander Bernard Janvier (right) could already feel like victors at Sarajevo airport the day before.

4 / 11 The NATO forces were also deployed in the Kosovo war.

The reason for the NATO attack as part of Operation "Allied Force" was the non-signing of the Rambouillet Treaty by Serbian President Slobodan Milošević (on the right, here with the then German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer).

The main official goal was to force the Milošević government to withdraw the army from Kosovo.

5 / 11As early as 1998, the Kohl cabinet, together with the winners of the 1998 federal elections, Gerhard Schröder and Joschka Fischer, decided on the first deployment of German soldiers in a military conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

Foreign Minister Fischer appealed: "We have always said: 'Never again war!'

But we always said: 'Never again Auschwitz!'” People in Germany took to the streets at anti-war demonstrations against the NATO operation, as here, for example, on March 25, 1999 in Leipzig.

6 / 11Since the beginning of 2001, the rebels of the UCK (Liberation Army in Kosovo), who had already fought the Serbs in the Kosovo war, have been fighting the Macedonian army.

After the conclusion of a peace agreement, the UCK agreed to disarm and disband and handed over their weapons to NATO.

A total of 3,875 rebel weapons were collected and melted down.

7 / 11In August 2003, through a United Nations mandate in Afghanistan, NATO took command of international peacekeeping forces, heralding the alliance's first deployment outside of Europe.

the deployment of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a so-called peace enforcement operation under the responsibility of the participating states as part of the war in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. © SHAH MARAI/afp

8 / 11Since 1999, the KFOR (Kosovo Force) has been working to build and protect a secure environment in Kosovo.

Their deployment began on June 12, 1999 with Operation Joint Guardian, when the first NATO troops entered Kosovo.

With around 48,000 soldiers from 30 nations (19 of whom are NATO members), it was the largest ground operation in the history of the alliance up to that point.

Also present are Bundeswehr soldiers who, among other things, secured the Serbian-Orthodox Archangel Monastery near Prizren in 2007.

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9 / 11Since June 2005, NATO has been supporting the African Union, including the AU mission in Somalia (Amisom).

There, the Islamist movement Al-Shabaab, which is linked to the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, controls parts of the south and strictly enforces Sharia law.

As part of the AU mission to Somalia, a tank driver tests his steering while stationed at a front-line base in Lower Shabelle in January 2013.

10 / 11As part of its mission in Iraq, NATO trains and supports the Iraqi security forces in the fight against the so-called Islamic State.

On December 9, 2021, Iraqi security adviser Qassem al-Araji (left) and NATO commander Michael Lollesgaard met in the "Green Zone" of the capital Baghdad.

The US-led coalition then ended its combat mission and shifted to a training and advisory role.

11 / 11Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO has once again expanded its long-established aviation security mission for the Baltic states on the eastern flank of the military alliance.

France uses four Rafale fighter jets to monitor the airspace.

Before launch on November 25, 2022, a pilot in Mont-de-Marsan once again prepares his jet for the four-month mission.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-11-30

NATO: The most important combat missions of the defense alliance

NATO: The most important combat missions of the defense alliance

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