The session of the National Security Committee was held behind closed doors
Hungary’s participation in the international coalition fighting against the Islamic State terrorist organisation reportedly would cost HUF 20 billion during its first year. This includes dispatching a 100-strong unit to perform security tasks at the alliance’s training centre in northern Iraq and to have another unit of 50 troops on stand-by in Hungary.
The details were given to Parliament’s foreign affairs committee by Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, who said Hungary has received the formal request for contribution from the United States. Szijjártó said Islamic State has carried out an attack against the Western community as a whole. He noted that Hungary’s affiliation to this community mandates responsibilities as well. “We have become involved in the conflict, therefore it is our duty to take part in countering this brutal attack.”
The legal framework for the international coalition’s action has been provided by two UN Security Council resolutions adopted in 2014 on anti-terrorism, Szijjártó said. If Parliament approved Hungary’s military involvement, Hungary would have to conclude a bilateral agreement with Iraq. Giving a timeline for the mission, Szijjártó said top Hungarian army commanders would visit the site in northern Iraq this month, then MPs could pass a decision by late April and the first troops could be dispatched in late May. The decision requires a two-thirds majority in Parliament, which the governing party currently does not have.
Márton Gyöngyösi, of radical nationalist Jobbik, said Hungary’s national interest in this mission is “doubtful”. The party firmly rejects that Hungary should take up a military role “in the war against the IS”. Bernadett Szél, of green LMP, said the foreign minister’s words “were not reassuring” and participation “will pose a rather serious challenge”.
With assistance from the opposition Együtt party, however, Fidesz is likely to be able to whip together the necessary amount of votes. Együtt said it supports contributing to international military efforts against Islamic State, if the government can reduce the risks to a bare minimum. After meeting Szijjártó, Zsuzsanna Szelényi, who sits as an independent, said Együtt disagrees with a significant part of the Orbán government’s foreign policies but shares the view that IS poses a serious threat to Europe and it is necessary to act against this.
Szelényi and Szabolcs Szabó, also of Együtt, asked Szijjártó whether the Hungarian government would be able to provide all the necessary safety to Hungarian soldiers. She said that in the coming weeks leading to a parliamentary vote Együtt would continue to gather more information.
According to Zsolt Németh, the foreign affairs committee’s chairman representing ruling Fidesz, the mission will be approved because the Hungarian Liberal Party and an MP for opposition leftist DK have stated support.
Szijjártó (left) met with Együtt MPs Szabolcs Szabó and Zsuzsanna Szelényi
Szijjártó told journalists ahead of a closed-door meeting of the defence and national security committees: “As far as I can see, achieving a two-thirds support by lawmakers for participation is a realistic scenario.” He said the joint meeting of the two committees was to allow MPs to hear details about the security aspects from the heads of the Information Office, the anti-terrorism force TEK and the national military security services.
The issue was about deploying Hungarian troops in a foreign country to serve on a mission of countering an attack against Western values, he added. “If there is any issue of national importance, this one is such.”
Fidesz seems to be sure of the passing of the necessary law: Defence Minister Csaba Hende has already submitted the bill on military involvement. If Parliament approves the document available on its website, it will authorise the Hungarian Armed Forces to send a contingent of up to 150 soldiers – or 300 during the replacement period – to be stationed at a training centre in Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Under the bill, the Hungarian soldiers would fulfil their mission until December 31, 2017.
Two mosques in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, were attacked by suicide bombers last Friday, killing over 100 and injuring over 250 more.
The attacks targeted mosques used by supporters of the Houthi rebel movement, who reportedly support former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and now control Sanaa. The elected president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, has moved to Aden, to the south.
Muslim militant group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Twitter accounts known to be connected to the group. Islamic State is known to have set up a base in Yemen last November, but is not known to have previously carried out an attack there. A White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, stated that the group’s claim of responsibility cannot be confirmed, and raised the possibility the claim could be propaganda.
