Germany Prepared to Send Arms to Kurds in Iraq
AP/Daily Mail UK, 20 August 2014
BERLIN (AP) — Germany says it is prepared to arm the Kurdish fighters battling Sunni insurgents in northern Iraq.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says Germany would closely coordinate its efforts with France, Britain and other European countries who are already delivering weapons to the Kurds.
Wednesday's announcement follows intense domestic and international pressure for the German government to provide more than humanitarian assistance to those fighting the Islamic State group, which has taken control of large parts of Iraq in recent weeks.
The offensive by ISIS radicals has left thousands dead and forced 1.5 million people from their homes.
An internally displaced Iraqi woman holds her sister during a sandstorm
-at a new camp outside the Bajid Kandala camp in Feeshkhabour town, Iraq, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014.
Some 1.5 million people have been displaced by fighting in Iraq since the Islamic State's rapid advance began in June, and thousands more have died. The scale of the humanitarian crisis prompted the U.N. to declare its highest level of emergency last week. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Sending weapons would be a significant step for Germany, which traditionally has shied away from such moves. Steinmeier said the decision was made to do so because a collapse of Kurdish defenses could precipitate a wider catastrophe in Iraq that would directly affect Europe.
France began shipping arms to Kurdish forces last week and has also supplied similar weapons to Western-backed Syrian opposition forces.
The French government, meanwhile, announced Wednesday it was getting a new shipment of humanitarian aid ready for Iraq as minorities under attack by Sunni militants issued a new appeal for help.
France has already sent dozens of tons of aid to minorities in Iraq in several deliveries since Aug. 10.