Kurdish Forces get US weapons

Sydney: The Obama administration has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in northern Iraq. Previously, the US had insisted on only selling arms to the Iraqi government in Baghdad, but the Kurdish peshmerga fighters had been losing ground to Islamic State militants in recent weeks.

The officials wouldn’t say which US agency is providing the arms or what weapons are being sent, but an official said that it is not the Pentagon.

The CIA has historically done similar quiet arming operations.

The move to directly aid the Kurds underscores the level of US concern about the Islamic State militants’ gains in the north, and reflects the persistent administration view that the Iraqis must take the necessary steps to solve their own security problems.

To bolster its effort, the administration is also very close to approving plans for the Pentagon to arm the Kurds, a senior official said. In recent days, the US military has been helping facilitate weapons deliveries from the Iraqis to the Kurds, providing logistic assistance and transportation to the north.

The additional assistance comes as Kurdish forces yesterday took back two towns from the Islamic insurgents, aided in part by US airstrikes in the region.

“Daash Islamic State fighters took full control of Jalawla this morning after clashes with the peshmerga that lasted two days,” a high-ranking regional police said.

Two other security sources confirmed that Jalawla, 130 kilometres (80 miles) northeast of Baghdad, had fallen to the jihadists. They said 10 peshmerga were killed and around 80 wounded.