The Czech Republic will grant the authorities of Iraq's Kurdistan Region ammunition worth over $2 million, Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said in a televised statement Sunday.
“Right after Iraq’s new government begins its work, which is planned for September 14, I will visit the country for talks on the supply of weapons, the first tranche of which has already been approved by the Czech government. The cost of the first delivery is over 40 million korunas [or $2 million], but it is gratuitous on our part,” Zaoralek said.Continue..
The minister noted that the delivery is a response to the call for help on the part of the President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani, who has asked the international community for military support in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants.
On Thursday, British Prime Minister David Cameron said London was considering providing arms and training to Kurdish forces. France agreed to supply arms to Iraqi Kurds in August.
The IS, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL), is a radical Sunni group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it started launching attacks in northern and western Iraq, capturing vast areas in the north of the country and forcing thousands of people, mostly from religious minority groups, to flee.
Iraqi Kurds established military cooperation with Baghdad in an effort to drive IS fighters back.
Tens of thousands of Kurds, belonging to the Yazidi religious minority group, are still stranded atop Mount Sinjar after fleeing IS insurgency.
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