Paris decided to suspend the activities of its troops in Iraq and return them to their homeland due to the spread of coronavirus infection. This is stated in a statement by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of France.

“In collaboration with the Iraqi government, the coalition decided to adjust its presence in this country and temporarily suspend its training of Iraqi security forces, especially in light of the health crisis,” the report said.

It will be clarified that the military participating in the Shamal operation in Iraq are returning to France before a new order.

In addition, the head of the Pentagon, Mark Esper, by his decree banned the US military from any movement abroad for two months in connection with the coronavirus pandemic.

“The objectives of this measure are to further prevent the spread of coronavirus infection COVID-19, protect the personnel of the US Armed Forces and keep our global forces ready,” the US Department of Defense said in a statement.

The ministry said that the order to suspend displacement, "is likely to affect about 90 thousand employees for whom a relocation is planned."

“The decision to suspend movements relies on previously imposed restrictions governing foreign trips, transfer to a new permanent duty station, business trips and vacations, and will also relate to exercises, deployment and relocation of contingents and other actions in the field of global command and control of the armed forces,” explained The Pentagon.

  • Pentagon Head Mark Esper
  • Reuters
  • © Yuri Gripas

Recall that the outbreak of COVID-19 was originally recorded in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December. Outside of China, the disease was diagnosed in patients in more than 190 countries. On March 11, the World Health Organization announced the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the WHO, as of March 26, in total, the disease was confirmed in more than 465 thousand people, more than 21 thousand died. In the United States identified about 63 thousand infected. In Europe, Italy (about 74 thousand cases) remains the leader in the number of coronavirus infected, followed by Spain (over 47 thousand), Germany (more than 36 thousand) and France (about 25 thousand).

“Late and disorganized”

The spread of coronavirus was reflected in the exercises of the North Atlantic Alliance and the bloc countries.

Thus, according to the European Command of the US Armed Forces, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the scale of NATO Defender Europe 2020 maneuvers in Eastern Europe was reduced. It is noted that Washington stopped the transfer of its troops to the training areas, and also canceled related maneuvers - Dynamic Front, Joint Warfighting Assessment, Saber Strike and Swift Response.

It was previously expected that Defender Europe 2020 will become the largest deployment of US troops in Europe over the past 25 years. About 40 thousand military men, half of which were from the USA, were to take part in them. As Mark Esper noted, one of the tasks of maneuvers is to change the “bad behavior” of Moscow.

In addition, according to the press service of the Armed Forces of Norway, the exercises of nine NATO Cold Response countries, which involved about 14 thousand troops, including from the United States, were completed ahead of schedule. The maneuvers, the duration of which was supposed to be two weeks, began on March 2, but after a little more than a week it was decided to stop them in connection with the spread of coronavirus infection.

In the middle of this month, the United States also canceled the African Lion exercises, which were scheduled to be held from March 23 to April 4 in Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal.

As Major General Roger Cloutier, Commander of the US Army in Africa, noted, more than 9 thousand military personnel, including at least 4 thousand American soldiers, were to take part in the maneuvers.

According to experts, now COVID-19 "wins any plans of the bloc and the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance." This opinion was expressed by Andrei Sidorov, head of the department of international organizations and world political processes at the Moscow State University faculty of world politics, in a conversation with RT.

“Indeed, among the military personnel in the barracks position, the spread of COVID-19 will be very fast - they can get sick in whole parts. And it is possible to stop the spread of such a virus only by forbidding the military to leave the territory of the unit that is being monitored and undergoing sanitary treatment, ”Sidorov said.

  • NATO Cold Response 2020 exercises
  • globallookpress.com
  • © Sgt. Devin Andrews / Keystone Press Agency

“The response dragged on”

As military expert Ivan Konovalov noted, the situation with the spread of coronavirus is a kind of “test of the fighting forces of countries around the world for strength and speed of reaction.”

“If we compare the statistics on coronavirus in different countries, it becomes clear that Russia reacted much faster and began to act than NATO countries, including in the military sphere. In the member countries of the bloc, the response to the threat has dragged on, and for some reason NATO has not taken on the role of a consolidator, ”the analyst explained.

Andrei Sidorov did not rule out that other members of the alliance could follow the example of France and the United States and seriously limit the activity of their military contingent or even withdraw it from various regions of the world.

“The alliance may soon have only two options: to remain inactive and wait until the NATO contingent dies out or still withdraw the military. COVID-19 is an enemy that cannot be killed or isolated. This virus can penetrate into any gap, and the military contingent of the bloc, given the current realities, may soon find itself in a very difficult situation, ”the expert predicted.

However, Ivan Konovalov emphasized that the expectation of a total withdrawal of the NATO contingent from abroad is possible only if "the Americans and their allies assess the situation as extremely critical."

“Only then will the military of the alliance leave their bases in different regions of the world. However, while the bloc continues to hold on to its positions, as they fear that, having left there, it will no longer be able to control a number of countries, in particular, interfere with the restoration of peace in the Middle East, ”the analyst concluded.