Germany restarts military training mission in Iraq

The German Defence Ministry says it's resuming its military training mission in Iraq after a re-evaluation of the security situation determined the threat level had lessened. The Ministry said Friday the re-assessment was a joint assessment by coalition forces serving in Iraq, which is led by the United States.

Last week, the US said they'd detected signs of Iranian preparations for potential attacks on US forces and interests in the Middle East, and the threat assessment in Iraq was raised to its highest level. That prompted Germany to suspend its training of Iraqi soldiers in the north and ordered the 160 German soldiers to stay on base.

The Ministry says the threat level has now been lowered, so its soldiers can again leave their base and would "soon" resume their mission.

(With inputs from agencies.)