Felipe VI, in the San Gregorio maneuver field, in Zaragoza, during an exercise with live fire of the Army last November.efe
The Spanish Armed Forces, which are celebrating Military Easter this Friday under the King's presidency, will command four different international missions in Lebanon, Mali, Iraq and the Horn of Africa in 2023, under three different flags (the UN, the EU and NATO). ), in what constitutes an unprecedented effort and, at the same time, recognition of the good work of the Spanish military, according to Defense sources.
The first to take command was Major General Aroldo Sáez Lázaro, who on February 28 became commander of the 10,000
blue helmets
from 45 countries that make up the United Nations Interim Force for Lebanon (UNIF).
Spain, which joined this UN mission in 2007, provides 650 soldiers;
but the Defense General Staff has asked to reinforce them with 90 more, including a transport detachment with two helicopters and a Raven radar to verify airspace violations by Israel and the firing of rockets by Lebanese militias.
It is expected that the command of General Lázaro will last two years.
For his part, Brigadier General Santiago Fernández Ortíz-Repiso assumed the leadership of the EUTM-Mali mission, the most important of the EU in the Sahel, at a critical moment, since the instruction has been suspended. of the Malian military due to disagreements with the Bamako coup junta and the growing presence in the country of Russian troops and mercenaries.
In this case, Spain not only has not increased its troops, but it is reducing them: of the more than 500 it had, it has 300 left and these will be half when the Kulioro training center is abandoned and the entire European mission is concentrated in Bamako.
After the withdrawal of France, Germany and the Czech Republic, the very continuity of the mission is in question.
In May, a lieutenant general from the Spanish Army will take command of the NATO mission in Iraq.
Approved in Brussels in 2018, NMI (Nato Mission Iraq) is a non-combat mission dedicated to advising the Iraqi authorities and strengthening its institutions and security forces so that they are capable of stabilizing the country and fighting jihadist terrorism.
Spain, with 128 soldiers, is the first contributor to this mission in which the 30 NATO allies participate, as well as Sweden, Finland and Austria.
It is assumed that Spain will increase its contribution to an operation that is expanding.
In addition to contributing to the NMI, Spain has another 174 soldiers in Iraq who are part of the international coalition to fight against Daesh.
The Spanish lieutenant general, who will replace the Italian Giovanni Iannucci,
Since March 2019, a Spanish vice admiral has directed the strategic headquarters of the EU Operation Atalanta based at the Rota naval base (Cádiz).
In addition, during this year a Spanish rear admiral will assume the embarked command of the European fleet, in which Italy, Portugal and Spain take turns.
Currently, this position is held by a Portuguese soldier, but his staff sails aboard the Spanish frigate Santa María.
Although there have not been any pirate hijackings in the area since 2019, the shortage of grain due to the Ukrainian war and the drought have made the task of escorting World Food Program (WFP) ships more important than ever.
The assumption of command posts in international missions is the most colorful part of the panorama that the Armed Forces are facing in 2023, a year in which they will have a significant economic injection, with a budget of 12,850 million euros, almost 26 % more than in 2022. In debit, however, the discrimination of the military with respect to the personnel of other uniformed corps, such as the Civil Guard, continues to weigh heavily.
On the occasion of Military Easter, professional associations, such as Asfaspro (Association of Non-commissioned Officers of the Armed Forces), have denounced that less than 10% of the increase in the Budget will improve their remuneration and have labeled the "minister's bonus" of Defense, Margarita Robles, the "single incentive pay" of 710 euros charged by all the military assigned to the November and December payrolls.
After two years with capacity restrictions and masks, due to the pandemic, the central act of Military Easter has returned to normal, with 169 attending the speeches in the throne room and the subsequent cocktail party, reports Efe.
Representatives of professional military associations have not been invited.
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