Peshmerga to receive more military aid from Canada: Ministry

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - Kurdistan Region will soon receive a military shipment from Canada within the framework of the US-led coalition support to Peshmerga in the battle against the Islamic State (IS), said a senior Peshmerga official on Saturday.

The Secretary General of Peshmerga Ministry Jabar Yawar told Kurdistan24 that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had gained approval from the coalition and the federal government of Iraq to receive weapons from Canada.

Yawar did not specify the types of weapon that Peshmerga would receive from Canada but mentioned, “It is a significant proportion of military aid… The main ones we can use in the fight against Da’esh,” he said, using an Arabic pejorative term for IS.

He mentioned that no weapons were delivered to Erbil without the initial approval of the federal government in Baghdad. KRG officials often complain Baghdad blocks military aid sent to the Peshmerga.

“This has been part of our problem with Baghdad. There is no trust,” said the KRG Head of Foreign Relations Department Falah Mustafa during the annual Halifax International Security Forum in Canada on November 20.

Moreover, Yawar said that in 2017, the US would train two more brigades of Peshmerga forces as well as arm them with different weapons and military equipment, including heavy weapons.

The Secretary General explained that the US-led coalition advisers would continue training Peshmerga forces in 2017.

Peshmerga has been praised for being one of the most efficient ground troops in defeating the extremist group. Since the emergence of the IS in June 2014 in northern Iraq, Peshmerga has liberated 30,000 square kilometers, according to the Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) Masrour Barzani.

Editing by Ava Homa