DW: German parliament approves anti-IS Bundeswehr mission in Syria

Germany's parliament has voted overwhelmingly to join the 60-nation combat mission against the "Islamic State" (IS) militia in regions of Syria and Iraq, according to Deutsche Welle.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition used its majority in the Bundestag on Friday to approve the deployment of up to 1,200 soldiers against the jihadist IS under UN and EU collective security laws. The mandate was endorsed by 445 parliamentarians, with 146 others voting no and seven abstaining, Deutsche Welle wrote.

Germany's opposition Left party rejected the mission, saying it was too hasty and ill thought through. The opposition Greens warned that reconnaissance data gathered could be misused by nations involved, so far mainly in anti-IS airstrikes.

The deployment outlined earlier this week by German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen will involve six "Tornado" reconnaissance warplanes, a refueling aircraft, the German frigate "Augsburg" to help guard a French aircraft carrier, as well as logistics and command personnel and satellite links. France's carrier the Charles de Gaulle is in the eastern Mediterranean and is to be visited by French President Francois Hollande on Friday.

The German mandate drafted by parliament's foreign affairs committee seeks "to prevent acts of terror" and would stay in effect until December 31, 2016.

It was not clear whether all 1,200 German military service personnel, including technicians, would be deployed or only a portion, leaving some on stand-by.

Since September 2014, the US has led a coalition of Western and Arabic nations in air strikes against IS sites across swathes of northern Syria and western Iraq.

Russia intervened from September this year, using leased bases in Syria's western coastal region of Latakia. Moscow has long allied itself with Syria's widely ostracized President Bashar al-Assad.