Prague, June 15 (CTK) – The Czech air consulting team will leave for an Iraqi mission at the end of July and the beginning of August, General Staff spokesman Jan Sulc told CTK on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, representatives of the Czech and Iraqi militaries signed a document modifying the conditions of Czech soldiers in Iraq, including their protection and legal status.
A Czech unit was originally to be sent to Iraq in early June.
The Iraqis have already deployed the Czech L-159 aircraft, whose pilots Czech soldiers are to train, in the first combat mission.
The Czech team of up to 35 members will work in Iraq until the end of 2018. It will be deployed within the operation against Islamic State (IS).
The team will include pilots, technicians, logistics experts and military police. Thirty members will really operate in Iraq, while five will be reserves to be deployed if the team needs to be reinforced.
The team members will continue to train Iraqi pilots of the L-159 combat aircraft that the Czech Republic is selling to Iraq.
Both the Czech government and parliament have approved the Iraqi mission.
Only some technical details are yet to be agreed on, Sulc added.
The Czech team helped the Iraqis even before its departure, in the form of consultation and support, the Defence Ministry said.
Iraqi pilots trained in the Czech Republic were attacking the IS positions in the past months.
