Komeito, the Liberal Democratic Party's junior coalition partner, approved Tuesday a draft plan to dispatch Self-Defense Forces personnel to the Middle East, setting the stage for Cabinet approval next week.
The LDP had already endorsed the plan to send a helicopter-carrying destroyer and a P-3C patrol plane to the region, along with around 250 Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel.
Sending the SDF overseas is a sensitive issue as engagement in a foreign conflict could violate the war-renouncing Constitution. Komeito had been more cautious about the dispatch plan, which is expected to be endorsed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet on Monday.