COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark will not extend military operations of its seven F-16 fighter jets in Syria and Iraq from mid-December after six months in action, the Danish government said on Friday.

Instead the Danish contribution in Syria and Iraq will primarily consist of training and analysis teams, which to a large extent will work closer to Iraqi military units.

“We are pulling our airplanes out as planned. We have offered the coalition extra help with some construction and engineer troops,” Danish foreign minister Anders Samuelsen said after a meeting in the foreign political council.

“It has been assessed whether it would make sense from economical and practical considerations (to extend the mission) ... the conclusion has been that it makes no sense, so we just stick to the plan,” Samuelsen said.

NATO member Denmark is part of the U.S.-led operation “Inherent Resolve” against Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria. It said when it joined the mission in June it would review the operation after six months.

On Monday, a U.S. military investigation said Danish war planes were involved in a Sept. 17 coalition air strike, where a series of “unintentional human errors” killed fighters aligned with the Syrian government instead of the targeted Islamic State militants.

The minister made no mention of the incident in his statement. </s> COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — In a planned move, Denmark is pulling back its F-16 fighter jet squadron from an international coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.



Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen says the Scandinavian country would instead send engineering troops to help with reconstruction projects. He didn't specify where.



Denmark joined the international coalition in October 2014, and sent, among others, seven F-16 planes, which were briefly brought back to Denmark for repairs. In April, a large majority in the Danish Parliament sent them back, this time with a mandate to bomb in Syria.



Defense Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said Friday that an undisclosed number of special Danish troops were continuing to train and support Iraqi troops fighting Islamic State militants. </s> Russia has announced it is withdrawing its aircraft carrier and some other warships from the waters off Syria as the first step in a reduction of its forces in the war-torn Middle East country.

General Staff chief General Valery Gerasimov said the Admiral Kuznetsov carrier and accompanying ships will be the first to leave.

Gen Gerasimov was quoted by state news agency Tass as saying: “In accordance with the decision by the supreme commander-in-chief (President) Vladimir Putin, the defence ministry is starting to downsize the grouping of armed forces in Syria.”

Moscow has been a key supporter of President Bashar al–Assad’s government and forces in Syria’s devastating civil war.

Gen Gerasimov did not give further details on the force reduction, which follows an order by Mr Putin on December 29th.

Syrian forces’ retaking of the city of Aleppo last month and a Russian/Turkish-brokered ceasefire, in place for nearly a week, make Russian forces less critical to Mr Assad, but it is unclear how extensive the military reduction will be.

Air strikes from the Admiral Kuzetsov began in mid-November, the first time the carrier has been used in combat. It has lost two aircraft. An Su-33 fighter jet crashed in the Mediterranean Sea in December as it returned to the carrier following a sortie over Syria, and in November, a MiG-29 crashed into the sea while trying to land on the carrier.

Russia and Turkey, a strong supporter of Syria’s moderate opposition, brokered the ceasefire, which came into effect on December 30th. The truce has mostly held but not altogether halted fighting in the country, and the government and opposition have blamed each other for violations.

The ceasefire is meant to pave the way for peace negotiations in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital, later this month. The gathering could give new impetus for UN-mediated talks between Syria’s warring sides. </s> The Russian Defense Ministry announced it is halting cooperation with its US counterparts in the framework of the Memorandum on the Prevention of Incidents and Ensuring Air Safety in Syria following the coalition’s downing of a Syrian warplane.

The ministry has demanded a thorough investigation by the US military command into the incident with the Syrian government military jet, with the results to be shared with the Russian side.

“In the areas of combat missions of Russian air fleet in Syrian skies, any airborne objects, including aircraft and unmanned vehicles of the [US-led] international coalition, located to the west of the Euphrates River, will be tracked by Russian ground and air defense forces as air targets,” the Russian Ministry of Defense stated.

Downing the military jet within Syrian airspace “cynically” violates the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic, Russian military said.

The actions of the US Air Force are in fact “military aggression” against Syria, the statement adds.

The ministry emphasized that Russian warplanes were on a mission in Syrian airspace during the US-led coalition’s attack on the Syrian Su-22, while the coalition failed to use the communication line to prevent an incident.

“The command of the coalition forces did not use the existing communication channel between the air commands of Al Udeid Airbase (in Qatar) and the Khmeimim Airbase to prevent incidents in Syrian airspace.”

The ministry considers the move “a conscious failure to comply with the obligations under the Memorandum on the Prevention of Incidents and Ensuring Air Safety in Syria,” and is thus halting cooperation with the US within the memorandum framework as of June 19, the statement concluded.

Earlier Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov condemned the attack, branding it an act of aggression which actually helped the terrorists the US is fighting against.

The US-led coalition downed the Syrian government warplane on Sunday. At the moment of the attack the jet was carrying out operations against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) some 40km from Raqqa, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The pilot ejected from the plane above IS-controlled territory and is still missing.
Denmark's government announces it will be withdrawing its seven F-16 fighter jets from military operations against ISIL in Iraq and Syria from mid-December.