Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Iraqi Peshmerga will soon enter Kobani to Fight ISIS

Kurdish fighters from Iraq will enter the besieged Syrian border city of Kobani this week to reinforce fellow Kurds who are defending against ISIS, a Peshmerga general told CNN on Tuesday.
"The Peshmerga have been ready for a few days, then had logistical problems, but they no longer do," Brig. Gen. Halgurd Hikmat said of the Iraqi Kurdish forces. "They will possibly be leaving today or tomorrow."
He added that "we now have an agreement with Turkey on this."
Another source -- an official with the Ministry of Peshmerga, effectively the defense ministry for the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq -- said 161 Peshmerga fighters were making the trip.
The troops have weapons "that will be of good help to our brothers in Kobani," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Peshmerga militia generally defends the Kurdish region in northern Iraq and has battled ISIS in that nation.
Turkish officials were not immediately available to comment. But Turkey has previously said it will allow the Peshmerga to pass through its territory into Syria to join the fight for Kobani, which lies on the Syrian-Turkish border.
Kobani, known in Arabic as Ayan al-Arab, is a largely Kurdish town defended by a Kurdish-Syrian militia.
With ISIS controlling the Syrian land surrounding Kobani, the Peshmerga's easiest path into Kobani is through Turkey.
Hikmat would not confirm how the Kurdish fighters from Iraq would join the Kurdish defenders in Kobani but said they would bring weapons and would participate in the fighting.
The weapons would be Saddam Hussein-era gear collected in Iraq, not new coalition armaments, Hikmat added.
Read the rest of the story HERE and view a related video below:





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