German frigate Bayern since her commissioning, including deploying in the Adriatic in 1999 during Operation Allied Force, the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Between April and November 2005 she served as the flagship for Wolfgang Kalähne, Commander-in-Chief of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2. "Bayern" was deployed with the Group in various manoeuvres, and to support Operation Active Endeavour. Between September 2007 to March 2008 "Bayern" was the flagship of Hans-Christian Luther, Commander-in-Chief of the Maritime Task Force of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. In late January 2008 "Bayern" came to the assistance of the container ship "Gevo Victory", which was in distress
Germany–Kurdistan Region relations the Kurds of Iraq established a mission in Berlin, establishing direct contacts with the German government. Furthermore, the mission had to coordinate humanitarian and development aid from Germany to the Kurdish region, and informed the German public and media about the general situation in Kurdistan. To combat Islamic State's advance into Northern parts of Iraq, the German government decided to aid the Kurdish soldiers (Peshmerga) militarily. Steinmeier stated that: "We cannot on the one hand praise the Kurdish security forces, pat them on the back for fighting ISIS on behalf of all of us, then when they ask for help