Spain deploys more troops than ever in an increasingly turbulent international panorama

This year, Spain will break the record for military personnel on international missions, with more than 3,600 permanently deployed abroad, to which another 450 will be added on a temporary basis and more than 2,500 sailing on board ships.

The turbulent international situation, with two wars at the gates of Europe, one in Ukraine and another in the Middle East, has forced an unprecedented deployment that exceeds the 3,500 soldiers reached two decades ago, when the Government of José María Aznar decided to participate in the military occupation of Iraq. Two more will be added to the 17 missions currently underway this year, in Slovakia and Romania, according to the agreement adopted on December 27 by the Council of Ministers.

Spain will be the framework nation of the new NATO multinational brigade based in Lest (Slovakia), about 300 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. In application of the new NATO force model, which transforms the current combat groups into brigades, a tactical group of 700 soldiers from the Light Airtransportable Brigade (Brilat) will be installed at the Slovak base, along with Czech uniformed personnel — who until now led the unit—Slovaks, Slovenians, Germans and Americans. In the event of a crisis, Brilat must be able to quickly project, from its base in Figueirido (Pontevedra) to Lest, a headquarters, a maneuver battalion and support units with a total of 1,200 troops, so that there is a complete combat brigade on the ground. To verify its operability, a deployment exercise for the entire unit is planned to be carried out this year.

In addition to leading the NATO advanced force in Slovakia, Spain will contribute a mechanized tactical subgroup of the Marine Infantry, with 250 soldiers, to the multinational brigade led by France in Romania. The current contribution of a tactical subgroup with Leopard tanks and 600 soldiers to the Canadian-led brigade in Adazi (Latvia) will also be maintained.

The participation of the Spanish Armed Forces in NATO plans to reinforce its Eastern flank against the Russian threat is completed with an air surveillance radar in Schitu (Romania), operated by 40 soldiers; and a Nasams anti-aircraft battery at the Lielvardes base (Latvia), with 100. Another similar battery will be maintained for four months in Amari (Estonia) and, as in previous years, it is planned that two detachments with up to eight combat aircraft and 150 military each to monitor the airspace of Lithuania and Romania for two periods of four months and a tanker plane for two.

In addition, the Navy will provide NATO with a frigate with 240 soldiers that will be in command of one of its permanent fleets (SNMG1) during the first half of this year; along with a minesweeper and a supply ship for four months. Its functions include monitoring the presence of the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean.

Not abroad, but in the EU Training Coordination Center (CTTC) in Toledo, some 300 Spanish soldiers have already trained more than 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

Although the reinforcement of NATO's eastern flank to dissuade Putin from expansionist adventures explains the strong increase in Spanish troops abroad, this is not the conflict that is of most concern at the moment. The war in Gaza has caused a geostrategic earthquake, reviving frozen conflicts and relegating others to oblivion while still being dangerous. This is the situation of the theaters of operations in which the Spanish Armed Forces are immersed at the start of 2024:

Lebanon, between two fires. The 700 Spanish soldiers deployed in southern Lebanon are literally caught between two fires. Since Hamas launched a terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, the Shiite militia Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, and the Israeli Army have engaged in an almost daily exchange of projectiles over the heads of the 10,360 peacekeepers of the Finul United Nations Interim Office for Lebanon) that Spanish Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro commands from February 28, 2022 until 2025. On December 10, an Israeli artillery projectile hit position 4-28, the same one where Corporal Francisco Javier Soria died in 2015, without causing any personal injury. Also several rockets launched by Hezbollah or Palestinian militias towards the blue line, the line that serves as the border between the two countries, have fallen on UN facilities since October 7. Although Israel usually warns the blue helmets of its attacks and they protect themselves in their shelters, the risk of accident is very high. Tension has risen even further after the assassination in Beirut of Hamas number two, Saleh al-Aruri, and the death of several Hezbollah militants by Israeli attacks. General Lázaro has met with the country's authorities to call for containment and warn them that “a miscalculation could have devastating consequences.” Israel has so far avoided opening a second front in the north, but military sources fear that, when it completes the operation in Gaza, it will try to expel Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. The Netanyahu Government has already warned that the situation on the Lebanese border must change for the 80,000 Israelis evacuated from the area to return to their homes.

Iraq, the eastern front. Iraq has become the last front in the game that Iran and the United States play on the Middle East board. Shiite militias have launched attacks against bases of the US-led international coalition in Iraq and the Pentagon's response has already caused the death of four militiamen, including a senior official of a pro-Iran group in Baghdad. The Prime Minister, Mohamed Shia al Sudani, with whom President Pedro Sánchez met in the Iraqi capital on the 28th, has described the North Ame
rican attacks as a “violation of the sovereignty” of his country and for the first time has spoken of the exit of foreign troops from Iraq. Spain has 362 soldiers in ancient Mesopotamia, of which 183 are integrated into the NATO mission (NMI), led by Spanish General José Antonio Agüero Martínez, and another 179 (including special operations forces and helicopters) in the coalition under American command. In theory, both operations have the objective of training the Iraqi Army to combat the Islamic State, but the weakness of the jihadist group and the growing tension between Washington and Baghdad has meant that the Western military presence, previously welcome, is beginning to be considered unwelcome. The deployment of the Spanish Armed Forces in the region is completed with a Patriot missile battery and 150 soldiers in the Turkish city of Adana. In theory, it serves to protect it from possible attacks with ballistic missiles from Syria, but such a threat has not existed for years. Now it is just a political gesture of solidarity from NATO with Turkey through Spain.

The last of the Sahel. After the withdrawal of the UN mission in Mali (Minusma) and the European mission in Niger, EUTM Mali, led by Spanish General Santiago Fernández Ruiz-Repiso, is the last stronghold of the European military presence in a region, the Sahel, where Russian Wagner mercenaries and jihadists have imposed their law. Although the European instructors have stopped training the Malian Army, which took power through a coup d'état – like its neighbors in Burkina Faso or Niger – and the Bamako military junta prevented the last relief of the Spanish contingent from entering in the country with its weapons, which forced it to inherit those of its predecessors, Spain refuses to lower the European flag for fear that the vacuum will be occupied by Russia and China. Of the 160 troops of the EUTM Mali mission, 85% (135) are Spanish. Before May of this year the EU must decide on the continuity of the mission: whether to maintain it, waiting for it to recover its original function; or close it permanently. In sub-Saharan Africa, Spain also has an air transport detachment in Senegal – which supports the Mali mission and the French army -, 21 soldiers in the European mission in Somalia and seven in the Central African Republic, in addition to two in Mozambique.

The pirates return. The Atalanta mission was considered to be one of the most successful in the EU. In the last three years there had been no kidnapping by Somali pirates. However, last December two were registered: an Iranian fishing vessel and a Bulgarian freighter. Spain bears the weight of Operation Atalanta, which is directed by Spanish Vice Admiral Vicente Villanueva Sánchez from the Rota naval base (Cádiz). After the withdrawal of the Italian ship, the Spanish frigate Victoria was the only ship that the European mission had during last Christmas and was dedicated to monitoring the movements of the MV Ruen kidnappers. That is one of the reasons why Spain opposed Operation Atalanta expanding its mission to also dedicate itself to protecting ships that cross the Red Sea from attacks by the Houthis, allies of Iran, who control part of Yemen.

Headless to the Red Sea. After having vetoed the EU's Operation Atalanta ships from patrolling the Red Sea, Defense Minister Margarita Robles reiterated on Thursday Spain's refusal to participate in the naval mission led by the United States. “Spain has never been afraid to participate in any mission, but, precisely because it is rigorous, what it wants is for the missions to be defined and for no country, whatever it may be, to tell Spain what it has to do,” he alleged. And she alluded to the fact that the Pentagon included Spain without prior consultation in the list of participants in Operation Guardian of Prosperity. In theory, Houthi attacks are directed against Israeli-flagged ships or ships bound for Israel; In practice, they threaten everyone who navigates the Red Sea, which has led many companies to avoid this route with rising freight rates. The political risk of the operation lies in the fact that Washington reserves the right to attack Yemen if the Houthis continue to hinder freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, which could drag countries with ships in the area into an international conflict. Until now, the Pentagon has limited itself to neutralizing Houthi aggression without attacking their bases on the coast.

Mission in Colombia. Outside Africa and the Middle East, Spain participates in the UN verification mission of the agreements between the Government of Bogotá and the FARC guerrilla, with five observers. Following the ELN's accession to the peace agreement, the United Nations has requested six additional observers to those already deployed.

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