Intends to play an active role by providing all kind of assistance
Paris : France will deliver weapons to Kurdish forces fighting Islamic extremists in Iraq, President Francois Hollande announced on Wednesday, reports AFP.
“In order to respond to the urgent need expressed by the Kurdistan regional authorities, the president has decided, in agreement with Baghdad, to deliver arms in the coming hours,” Hollande’s office said in a statement.
“France intends to play an active role by providing, along with its partners and in liaison with the new Iraqi authorities, all the assistance required,” the statement added.
Over the weekend, Paris already provided 18 tonnes of humanitarian aid and a new shipment of 20 tonnes of aid was due to arrive in northern Iraq later on Wednesday.
Hollande reiterated France’s support for Iraq’s premier designate Haidar al-Abadi and urged a “unity government, representing all Iraqis to fight effectively against Islamic State.”
France called earlier this week for an urgent meeting of European Union foreign ministers to consider Kurdish requests for arms and an aid airlift to northern Iraq.
France had pledged to deliver a second shipment of humanitarian aid to northern Iraq in a bid to help religious minorities persecuted by advancing radicals.
On Sunday French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius travelled to Irbil to deliver an initial shipment of aid. France has taken a strong stance on the need to protect Christians and other minorities being persecuted in northern Iraq.
US to send more military personnel
Washington: US President Barack Obama has authorised sending an additional 130 military personnel to northern Iraq to access the scope of the humanitarian mission for the thousands of Yezidi minority trapped on Mt Sinjar by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The temporary authorisation from Obama comes at the recommendation of the Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.
These military personnel, comprising of Marines and special operations forces, are being sent to northern Iraq to assess the scope of the humanitarian mission and develop additional humanitarian assistance options beyond the current airdrop effort in support of displaced Iraqi civilians.
