The first batch of German troops and aircraft took off Thursday for Turkey as part of a deployment in the battle against the "Islamic State" (ISIS) terrorist group in Syria, AFP reports.
Forty soldiers and two Tornado reconnaissance jets left from the Jagel military airbase in northern Germany's Schleswig-Holstein state. An A310 MRT aerial refuelling jet left separately from Cologne-Wahn base for the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey.