<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Council of Ministers has extended this Tuesday until December 31, 2025 the participation of the Spanish Armed Forces and Civil Guard in operations outside the national territory.</strong></h4> According to the Government, military operations and missions abroad constitute an "essential instrument to materialize Spain's commitment to achieve, especially within the framework of the complexity of the current geopolitical context, an international environment of peace and stability based on a fairer and more cohesive multilateral system around the values and principles that underpin international legality." For 2025, a military effort abroad similar to that of 2024 is planned, with specific numerical adjustments in some missions, derived from their evolution or from the commitments and rotations agreed in the force generation processes of the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance. The extension affects the participation of Spanish military units and observers in peacekeeping operations within the framework of the UN, NATO and the EU. In general terms, the Government plans to maintain the level of participation of the Armed Forces in Operations Abroad during 2025, including the continuity in command of UNIFIL Lebanon, EUNAVFOR Atalanta and the NATO Mission in Iraq (NMI). Currently, according to data from the Ministry of Defense, the Spanish Armed Forces are present in 16 missions abroad, with up to 3,000 soldiers and civil guards deployed on four continents. Under the umbrella of the UN, 700 Spanish soldiers are part of the mission in Lebanon (the largest participation), in which they lead the Eastern Sector and whose commander in chief is the Spanish lieutenant general Aroldo Lázaro. In addition, Spain leads the NATO Forward Presence Combat Group in Slovakia as part of the Alliance's strategy to reinforce the eastern flank of Europe. Our country has deployed 1,700 soldiers within the Euro-Atlantic territory, including those of the current land contingent in Latvia and the troops in Slovakia and Romania. In addition to these deployments, there is a contribution to the permanent NATO naval forces, to the police and air surveillance devices and support for anti-aircraft defence in the Baltic countries and in Turkey. In addition, around 180 Spanish soldiers train the Iraqi Army as part of the international coalition fighting Daesh (Operation Inherent Resolve). Since October 2018, Spain has also been advising the Iraqi government on the national security structure and developing its military professional education system, all within the scope of the NATO Mission-Iraq (NMI). For this mission, Spain has deployed 178 troops. Lieutenant General José Antonio Agüero was in command of this mission from May 2023 to May 2024. The deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR Althea) and the training mission in Ukraine (EUMAM) also reflect Spain's commitment in Europe. In the case of Ukraine, Spain contributes 300 troops, most of them in Spanish territory, supporting the mission with specialized training modules. In addition, Spain is present in all the military missions that the European Union carries out on the African continent, with deployments in the Central African Republic (EUTM RCA, for the advice, training and instruction of the Armed Forces), Somalia (EUTM, for the training of local security forces) and Senegal (the Ivory Detachment, under the Operation Support to Mali against jihadism, with 90 soldiers and aircraft deployed to guarantee regional security). In addition, Spain participates in the Atalanta operation against piracy in the Indian Ocean, to which it contributes 350 soldiers and whose command is located at the EU Headquarters in Rota. With regard to Latin America, Spain supports, under the mandate of the United Nations, compliance with the peace agreements in Colombia by monitoring and verifying the ceasefire and hostilities, as well as the laying down of arms. To this end, our country has eight observers deployed in Colombia: five officers from the Armed Forces and three officers from the Civil Guard or equivalent from the National Police Corps dependent on the Ministry of the Interior.
