Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has said that his country has no intention of deploying troops outside its borders, including to Gaza, as part of any peace mission.
In interviews with Azerbaijani television channels, President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan has sent a list of questions to the administration of US President Donald Trump regarding the proposed peace force in Gaza, known as the International Stabilization Force (ISF).
“We prepared a questionnaire consisting of more than 20 questions and shared it with US officials. However, there is no plan under consideration to participate in the peace force. I am not considering taking part in any kind of military operation outside Azerbaijan,” he said.
It is worth mentioning that in November last year, sources in the Azerbaijani government had said that Azerbaijan would not provide troops for such an operation unless fighting between Israel and Hamas came to a complete halt.
In December, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan was willing to contribute to an international peacekeeping force in Gaza, though it would not deploy troops to disarm or de-weaponize Hamas.
The statement follows media reports saying Washington views Pakistan as a potentially significant contributor given its battle-hardened military and wants it to be part of International Stabilization Force (ISF), which is part of United States President Donald Trump’s 20-point framework for a Gaza peace plan.
