Prime MInister Mariano Rajoy, announced on ‘La Tarde’, on the COPE radio station, that he is going to ask the Lower House of Parliament to support an increase to 400, in the number of Guardia Civil and military personnel that form part of the international coalition to fight DAESH.

The President of the Government made this announcement during the course of a telephone address on the programme ‘La Tarde’, on the COPE radio station, broadcast live from Baghdad (Iraq), where 307 Spanish servicemen are providing training to the Iraqi Army.

Mariano Rajoy stated that “there are now just over 300 servicemen and we would like to see this rise to 400, which is what our allies are calling for”. He also stressed that they carry out “such an important, dignified and fundamental task as guaranteeing the security, the liberty and the fundamental rights of all Europeans and all Spaniards”.

According to the President of the Government, “the war on terror is global and all of us who defend certain values, principles and ideas must work together and be aware that it is very important to do things in this manner”.

In this regard, he underlined that “the battle must be fought everywhere, above all at source”, but that “we may be struck at home”, as has already happened in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Spain.

The international coalition against Jihadi terrorism, made up of 60 countries and headed up by the United States, seeks to halt the advances made by the terrorist group DAESH in Syria and Iraq. Training the Iraqi Army is part of the coalition’s strategy to help the Government of Iraq recover the territory occupied by terrorists.

Rajoy said that, as well as Iraq, the overseas missions being undertaken by the Spanish Armed Forces extend to other zones, such as the Sahel, Mali, Senegal and Turkey.

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