Iraqi Kurds set to send fresh troops to Kobane

ARBIL

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters pose for a picture during a break in fighting against ISIL near Kobane. AFP Photo / Ahmed Deeb

Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has announced that it will soon send replacements for its 150 Peshmerga fighters who were recently sent to the Syrian town of Kobane through Turkey.

“Our Peshmerga fighters in Kobane are tired. We will send new troops to the region,” KRG Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs Cabbar Yaver said on Nov. 30, Anadolu Agency has reported.

Around 150 heavily armed Iraqi Peshmerga forces were sent to Kobane through Turkey at the end of October to reinforce their Syrian Kurdish comrades battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Syrian town.

According to Anadolu Agency, the Peshmerga’s new unit is awaiting departure with new weapons and ammunition.

The new fighters are reportedly expected to depart for Kobane on Dec. 1, according to sources close to the Iraqi Kurds in KRG capital Arbil.

The new troops are expected to pass through the districts of Silopi and Cizre in Turkey’s Şırnak province, Nusaybin and Kızıltepe in Mardin province, and Suruç in Şanlıurfa province, before arriving in Kobane.      

The Iraqi army and the Peshmerga have been battling ISIL in Iraq since mid-June, when the terrorist group took control of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. The militant group is said to now be in control of large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.