This year Spain will break the record number of military personnel in international missions: more than 3,600 are permanently stationed abroad, another 450 are joining on a temporary basis and more than 2,500 are on board ships.
The turbulent international situation, with two wars on the doorstep of Europe, one in Ukraine and one in the Middle East, has forced an unprecedented deployment, exceeding the 3,500 soldiers reached two decades ago when the government of José María Aznar decided take part in the military occupation of Iraq. According to the agreement adopted by the Council of Ministers on December 27, two more missions in Slovakia and Romania will be added this year to the 17 currently running.
Spain will become the framework nation of the new multinational NATO brigade based in Lest (Slovakia), about 300 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. Applying the new NATO force model, which converts the current combat groups into brigades, a tactical group of 700 soldiers from the Light Airtransportable Brigade (Brilat) will be stationed at the Slovak base, together with Czech uniformed personnel – who have previously led the unit – Slovaks, Slovenes, Germans and Americans. In the event of a crisis, Brilat must be able to quickly project from its base in Figueirido (Pontevedra) a headquarters, a maneuver battalion and support units totaling 1,200 soldiers, thus having a full combat brigade on the ground. An operational exercise for the entire unit is planned for this year to check its functionality.
In addition to leading the NATO advanced force in Slovakia, Spain will contribute a mechanized tactical subgroup of Marines with 250 soldiers to the French-led multinational brigade 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.
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The participation of the Spanish Armed Forces in NATO plans to strengthen its eastern flank against the Russian threat is completed by an air surveillance radar operated by 40 soldiers in Schitu, Romania; and a Nasams anti-aircraft battery at the Lielvardes base (Latvia) with 100 men. Another similar battery will be held in Amari (Estonia) for four months, and as in previous years, it is planned to station two detachments with up to eight combat aircraft and 150 military personnel each to monitor the airspace of Lithuania and Romania for two periods of four months and a tanker plane for two months.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, visited on December 28 the Spanish troops stationed at the Union III multinational base in Baghdad, Iraq. Borja Puig de la Bellacasa (EFE/Moncloa)
In addition, the Navy is providing NATO with a 240-man frigate that will take command of one of its permanent fleets (SNMG1) in the first half of this year; along with a minesweeper and a supply ship for four months. His duties include monitoring the presence of the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean.
Not abroad, but at the EU Training Coordination Center (CTTC) in Toledo, around 300 Spanish soldiers have already trained more than 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
Although strengthening NATO's eastern flank to deter Putin from expansionist adventures explains the sharp increase in Spanish troops abroad, this is not the conflict of greatest concern at the moment. The war in Gaza, although still dangerous, has unleashed a geostrategic earthquake that is reviving frozen conflicts and obscuring others. This is the situation of the operational areas in which the Spanish Armed Forces are located at the beginning of 2024:
Lebanon, between two fires. The 700 Spanish soldiers stationed 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 exchanged fire almost daily over the heads of the 10,360 peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Office for Lebanon). Spanish Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro commanded from February 28, 2022 to 2025. On December 10, an Israeli artillery projectile hit position 4-28, the same spot where Corporal Francisco Javier Soria died in 2015, without causing any injuries. Since October 7, several rockets from Hezbollah or Palestinian militias have also hit UN facilities in the direction of the Blue Line, the border between the two countries. Although Israel usually warns the peacekeepers of its attacks and they take shelter in their shelters, the risk of accidents is very high. Tensions have risen even further following the assassination of Hamas number two, Saleh al-Aruri, in Beirut and the deaths of several Hezbollah fighters in Israeli attacks. General Lázaro met with the country's authorities to call for containment and warn them that “a miscalculation could have disastrous consequences.” Israel has so far avoided opening a second front in the north, but military sources fear it will try to push Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon once the operation in Gaza is completed. The Netanyahu government has already warned that the situation on the Lebanese border must change so that the 80,000 Israelis evacuated from the area can return to their homes.
Iraq, the Eastern Front. Iraq has become the final front in the game Iran and the United States are playing in the Middle East. Shiite militias have launched attacks on U.S.-led international coalition bases in Iraq, and the Pentagon's response has already resulted in the deaths of four militia members, including a senior official from a pro-Iranian group in Baghdad. Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al Sudani, whom President Pedro Sánchez met in the Iraqi capital on the 28th, described the North American attacks as a “violation of the sovereignty” of his country and spoke for the first time about the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq. Spain has 362 soldiers in ancient Mesopotamia, 183 of whom are integrated into the NATO Mission (NMI) led by Spanish General José Antonio Agüero Martínez and another 179 (including special forces and helicopters) in the coalition under American command. In theory, both operations aim to train the Iraqi army to fight the Islamic State, but the jihadist group's weakness and growing tensions between Washington and Baghdad have meant that the previously welcome Western military presence is now considered unwelcome. The deployment of Spanish forces in the region will conclude with a Patriot missile battery and 150 soldiers in the Turkish city of Adana. Theoretically, it serves to protect against possible ballistic missile attacks from Syria, but such a threat has not existed for years. Now it is just a political gesture of NATO solidarity with Turkey over Spain.
The last of the Sahel. After the withdrawal of the UN mission in Mali (Minusma) and the European mission in Niger, EUTM Mali, under the leadership of Spanish General Santiago Fernández Ruiz-Repiso, is the last stronghold of the European military presence in a region, the Sahel, where Russia lives Wagner -Mercenaries and jihadists have enforced their law. Although the European trainers have stopped training the Malian army, which, like its neighbors in Burkina Faso or Niger, came to power in a coup, and the Bamako military junta has prevented the last detachment of the Spanish contingent from entering the country, Spain refuses , to raise the European flag because it fears that the vacuum could be occupied by Russia and China. Of the 160 soldiers in the EUTM Mali mission, 85% (135) are Spanish. Before May this year, the EU must decide on the continuity of the mission: whether to maintain it and wait for it to return to its original function; or close it permanently. In sub-Saharan Africa, Spain also has an air transport unit in Senegal – supporting the Mali mission and the French army – 21 soldiers in the European mission in Somalia and seven in the Central African Republic and two in Mozambique.
The pirates return. The Atalanta mission was considered one of the most successful in the EU. There had been no kidnappings by Somali pirates in the last three years. However, last December two were registered: an Iranian fishing vessel and a Bulgarian freighter. Spain bears the burden of Operation Atalanta, led by Spanish Vice Admiral Vicente Villanueva Sánchez from the Rota Naval Base (Cádiz). Following the departure of the Italian ship, the Spanish frigate Victoria was the only ship the European mission had at its disposal last Christmas and dedicated to monitoring the movements of the MV Ruen's hijackers. This is one of the reasons why Spain opposed the expansion of Operation Atalanta's mission to protect ships transiting the Red Sea from attacks by the Houthis, allies of Iran who control part of Yemen.
Headless to the Red Sea. After vetoing EU ships patrolling the Red Sea as part of Operation Atalanta, Defense Minister Margarita Robles on Thursday reiterated Spain's refusal to take part in the US-led naval mission: “Spain has never been afraid to participate to participate in a mission, but precisely “Because it is strict, it wants the missions to be defined and that no country, whatever it may be, tells Spain what to do,” he claimed. And he alluded to the fact that the Pentagon included Spain in the list of participants in Operation Guardian of Prosperity without prior consultation. In theory, Houthi attacks target Israeli-flagged ships or ships bound for Israel; In practice, they threaten anyone sailing the Red Sea, which has led many companies to avoid this route as freight rates rise. The political risk of the operation is that Washington reserves the right to attack Yemen if the Houthis continue to obstruct free navigation in the Red Sea, which could draw countries with ships in the region into an international conflict. So far, the Pentagon has limited itself to neutralizing the Houthis' aggression without attacking their coastal bases.
Mission in Colombia. Outside Africa and the Middle East, Spain is participating with five observers in the UN verification mission of the agreements between the Bogotá government and the FARC guerrillas. Following the ELN's accession to the peace agreement, the United Nations requested six additional observers to those already deployed.
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