The Czech soldiers in the NATO mission in Iraq are staying at their respective bases and like the Allies, they have discontinued the training of the Iraqi armed forces, Defence Ministry spokesman Jan Pejsek told.
NATO has suspended its training mission in Iraq in the wake of the death of Qassem Soleimani, a prominent Iranian general who featured on the U.S.-designated list of terrorists and was killed in a U.S. air strike near the Baghdad airport on Friday.
Pejsek said that possible further steps depend on the development of the situation and an agreement between the Allies. The Czech Republic has about 40 soldiers in Iraq and the ministry has been in contact with them. "They are training instructors from the Czech military police and the chemical warfare unit," Pejsek said.
The mandate for the Czech troops' operation in Iraq is expiring this year. Defence Minister Lubomir Metnar (for ANO) previously said the government would seek the mandate's extension by parliament.
Apart from the soldiers, five Czech police officers serve in a training mission in Baghdad. All of them are in order, but would be immediately evacuated in the case of danger, the Czech Police have written on Twitter.
"We have been in regular contact with our contingent commander. The current measures will remain effective until Tuesday, and further steps will be decided on afterwards," Police President Jan Svejdar tweeted.
The goal of the NATO mission, which started in October 2018 and involves several hundreds of soldiers, is to train the Iraqi security forces to be capable of preventing the return of the Islamic State terrorist group.
