[Al Ahram] Calling the situation in Iraqi Kurdistan "catastrophic," La Belle France said Wednesday it would start supplying arms to the Kurdish forces fighting Sunni holy warriors from the Islamic State group. The sudden announcement that arms would begin to flow within hours underlined La Belle France's alarm at the urgency of the situation in Iraq, where the Islamic State fighters are threatening the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
The shipment of French arms, which the government refused to describe, follows the United States' increased role in fighting back the Islamic State Death Eaters.
Senior American officials say US intelligence agencies are directly arming the Kurds. On Tuesday, 130 US troops arrived in the Kurdish capital of Irbil on what the Pentagon described as a temporary mission to coordinate plans to help trapped Yazidi civilians on Mount Sinjar.
La Belle France says its arms shipment was coordinated with the Iraqi government.
French authorities have pushed other European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
members to do more to aid Christians and other minorities being targeted by the Islamic State group Death Eaters.