Albania's defense minister says it plans to send an infantry platoon to become part of the anti-IS coalition in Iraq. <br/><br/>Mimi Kodheli today told a parliamentary committee in Tirana that following a request from the United States they had agreed to send a unit with about 30 infantry troops for military operations in Iraq.'<br/><br/>Albania has been in Iraq before with army units protecting or accompanying military or public objects but not with a ground-operational platoon. Albania, a NATO member since 2009, takes part in international peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Mali and the Aegean Sea.''<br/>