Germany will send high-end rifles, tank-busting weapons and armoured
vehicles to aid Kurdish fighters battling Islamic extremists in Iraq,
German officials said Sunday.
"To get involved in this situation is our humanitarian responsibility and in our security interest" Ursula von der Leyen, Germany's defence minister told reporters in Berlin.
Von der Leyen went on to say that arms would be sent in three shipments, starting next month, and would initially be enough to equip a brigade of 4,000 Peshmerga fighters.
"We will send military material including weapons and ammunition to aid the Peshmerga. We will coordinate it with our partners. There will be no special German way. We will look where the Peshmerga's have deficits in their equipment and we will coordinate with our partners who is making up for it," she said
Germany joins other European countries who have pledged to provide arms to the Kurds fighting the Islamic State group that has swept into northern Iraq in recent months.
In total, the shipments will include 8,000 G36 assault rifles and the same number of G3 rifles, as well as ammunition; 200 Panzerfaust 3 and 30 MILAN anti-tank systems; and five heavily armored Dingo infantry vehicles.
"To get involved in this situation is our humanitarian responsibility and in our security interest" Ursula von der Leyen, Germany's defence minister told reporters in Berlin.
Von der Leyen went on to say that arms would be sent in three shipments, starting next month, and would initially be enough to equip a brigade of 4,000 Peshmerga fighters.
"We will send military material including weapons and ammunition to aid the Peshmerga. We will coordinate it with our partners. There will be no special German way. We will look where the Peshmerga's have deficits in their equipment and we will coordinate with our partners who is making up for it," she said
Germany joins other European countries who have pledged to provide arms to the Kurds fighting the Islamic State group that has swept into northern Iraq in recent months.
In total, the shipments will include 8,000 G36 assault rifles and the same number of G3 rifles, as well as ammunition; 200 Panzerfaust 3 and 30 MILAN anti-tank systems; and five heavily armored Dingo infantry vehicles.
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