Germany Expands GSG 9 Unit As Dozens Return from Syria, Iraq

GSG 9 Members (Asharq Al-Awsat)
GSG 9 Members (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Germany Expands GSG 9 Unit As Dozens Return from Syria, Iraq

GSG 9 Members (Asharq Al-Awsat)
GSG 9 Members (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Germany's Ministry of Interior is expanding its anti-terrorism unit GSG 9 and installing a second base for the special squad in Berlin.

Germany's elite police squad GSG 9 deals with terrorist attacks amid the ongoing terrorist threats in the capital.

GSG 9 commander Jerome Fuchs said that expanding the unit will be about around a third of its current strength. He told Berlin public broadcaster RBB on Monday, that finding the right personnel would be a "big challenge," and that "fitness, confidence, and teamwork" were the particular assets he prized most.

According to Fuchs, the GSG 9 is called out on around 50 missions every year.

Fuchs added that the decision to create a second base had been made because of an ongoing terrorist threat in Germany, especially Berlin.

"If you look at comparable terrorist situations across Europe, then it was often capital cities that were affected," Fuchs told the station, adding: "It is essential that we are better prepared in the capital. Our aim is clear: GSG 9 needs to be capable of quicker reactions in the capital."

While there has been no final decision on where the base in Berlin is to be built, Fuchs said it would most likely be in Spandau, northwestern the capital.

The GSG 9 currently is based in St Augustine near the former West German capital, Bonn.

The GSG 9 was created in 1972 and is best known for storming the Landshut in 1977. The exact number of GSG 9's members is not determined, however, its founder Ulrich Wegener, who died recently, stated that its members are estimated to be 400.

Meanwhile, the interior ministries of German states estimated the return of some 200 German ISIS members from fighting zones in Syria and Iraq to Germany. In response to inquiries by Der Spiegel and Bavaria Radio, the ministry stated that dozens of returnees are at large because of insufficient evidence against them.

The ministries reiterated that investigations with returnees are conducted, but only a small number of suspects are in prison because there is no clear evidence of their involvement in the fighting and crimes committed there.

In Bavaria, known for its strict sentences, only two of the 22 returnees from combat zones in Syria and Iraq have been convicted. Two members had been confirmed to belong to a terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaeda terrorist organization. A third person is under arrest on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organization. The rest so far are free, but are "under strict surveillance," according to the ministry.

In Hamburg, 25 terrorism suspects returned from ISIS areas of the 80 individuals who had joined from those areas. The situation in Bavaria is not that different from Hamburg, because the public prosecution arrested only one person from these returnees.

Lower Saxony’s Interior Ministry responded says that the number of detainees could be counted on the fingers of one hand, despite the fact that one-third of the 80 participants have returned.

As for Hesse, the ministry indicated that 35 individuals returned from combat zones in Syria and Iraq, with no evidence against half of them being involved in combat operations there.

According to Der Spiegel, some states did not respond, while others do not have accurate statistics on the number of returnees and detainees. The magazine estimates that many returnees do not want to disclose information that could condemn others fearing that this information will be used against them by states interior ministries.



Trump Makes a Victor’s Return to Washington to Meet with Biden and GOP Lawmakers

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
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Trump Makes a Victor’s Return to Washington to Meet with Biden and GOP Lawmakers

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)

President-elect Donald Trump is making a victor's return to Washington.

President Joe Biden will welcome him to the White House on Wednesday for an Oval Office visit that is a traditional part of the peaceful handoff of power — a ritual that Trump himself declined to participate in four years ago.

Trump also planned to meet with Republicans from Congress as they focus on his Day 1 priorities and prepare for a potentially unified government with a GOP sweep of power in the nation's capital. His arrival amid Republican congressional leadership elections could put his imprint on the outcome.

It's a stunning return to the US seat of government for the former president, who departed nearly four years ago a diminished, politically defeated leader after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol but is preparing to come back to power with what he and his GOP allies see as a mandate for governance.

Ahead of the visit, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that Republicans are "ready to deliver" on Trump’s "America First" agenda.

After his election win in 2016, Trump met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office and called it "a great honor." But he soon was back to heaping insults on Obama, including accusing his predecessor — without evidence — of having wire-tapped him during the 2016 campaign.

Four years later, Trump disputed his 2020 election loss to Biden, and he has continued to lie about widespread voter fraud that did not occur. He didn't invite Biden, then the president-elect, to the White House and he left Washington without attending Biden's inauguration. It was the first time that had happened since Andrew Johnson skipped Ulysses S. Grant's swearing-in 155 years ago.

Biden insists that he'll do everything he can to make the transition to the next Trump administration go smoothly. That's despite having spent more than a year campaigning for reelection and decrying Trump as a threat to democracy and the nation’s core values. Biden then bowed out of the race in July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him.

In the wake of the election, the president has abandoned his dire warnings about Trump, saying in a speech last week, "The American experiment endures. We’re going to be okay."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden is committed to "making sure that this transition is effective, efficient and he's doing that because it is the norm, yes, but also the right thing to do for the American people."

"We want this to go well," Jean-Pierre added. "We want this to be a process that gets the job done."

Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan echoed that sentiment, saying the administration will uphold the "responsible handoff from one president to the next, which is in the best tradition of our country."

Wednesday's visit is more than just a courtesy call.

"They will go through the top issues — both domestic and foreign policy issues — including what is happening in Europe and Asia and the Middle East," Sullivan told CBS of Wednesday’s meeting. "And the president will have the chance to explain to President Trump how he sees things ... and talk to President Trump about how President Trump is thinking about taking on these issues when he takes office."

Traditionally, as the outgoing and incoming presidents meet in the West Wing, the first lady hosts her successor upstairs in the residence — but Melania Trump isn’t expected to attend.

After his 2016 meeting with Obama, Trump also visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill and will be doing the same Wednesday — not far from where a mob of his supporters staged a violent January 2021 attack on the US Capitol to try and stop the certification of Biden's election victory.

When Trump left Washington in 2021, even some top Republicans had begun to decry him for his role in helping incite the Capitol attack. But his win in last week's election completes a political comeback that has seen Trump once again become the unchallenged head of the GOP.

It's not the first time Trump has returned to the Capitol area since the end of his first term, though. Congressional Republicans hosted Trump over the summer, as Trump was again solidifying his dominance over the party.

His latest visit comes as Republicans, who wrested the Senate majority from Democrats in last week's elections and are on the cusp of keeping GOP control of the House, are in the midst of their own leadership elections happening behind closed doors Wednesday.

The president-elect's arrival will provide another boost to Johnson, who has pulled ever-closer to Trump as he worked to keep his majority — and his own job with the gavel.

The speaker said he expects to see Trump repeatedly throughout the week, including at an event later that evening, and at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida "all weekend."

It's unclear whether Trump will also visit the Senate, which is entangled in a more divisive closed-door leadership election in the three-way race to replace outgoing GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump's allies are pushing GOP senators to vote for Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who had been a longshot candidate challenging two more senior Republicans, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, for the job.