Germany sends 70 tons of weapons to Kurdistan Peshmerga

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) –A spokesperson of German Defense Ministry stated Wednesday that Germany has delivered another military batch to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in an effort to accelerate the process of defeating jihadists in the north of Iraq.

The spokesperson said that Germany had delivered another 70 tons of weapons including 1,500 rifles, 100 shoulder-fired rockets, and three armored vehicles to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, according to Reuters.

Germany halted arm deliveries to the Peshmerga forces since January 2016 following the media reports showing that some of the German weapons sent to Peshmerga to fight Islamic State (IS) militants were sold in black market.

KRG’s investigation showed that about 30 German weapons of total 28,000 had been sold illegally or lost.

Kurdish security arrested several people involved in that particular case.

Kurdistan Region has faced a critical financial crisis since 2014 after the cut of the federal budget share of KRG by Baghdad government, drop of oil prices internationally, IS war and arrival of 1.8 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Region.

It is worth mentioning that due to the crisis, Peshmerga forces did not receive their payments for several months while fighting the biggest terrorist organization in the north of Iraq.

Moreover, Kurdish officials have signed a declaration that the newly received weapons sent by Germany will not be resold to the third party.

Since the beginning of IS war in June 2014, Germany has sent more than 30 shipments of armament to the KRG, which is 2,000 tons of weapons in total.

In addition to weapons, German military advisers have provided training to the Peshmerga forces. Also, in January 2016, German Parliament decided to increase the number of its soldiers in the Kurdistan Region from 100 to 150.

Recently, Peshmerga forces with the support of the US-led coalition cleared 11 villages from IS in the east of Mosul in less than two days.

Editing by Ava Homa