Germany provides more military aid to Iraq

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Germany is to step up arms supplies – including of armour-piercing Milan missiles – to peshmerga fighters battling the Islamic State in Iraq, the Defence Ministry in Berlin said on Friday.

Last year, Germany sent 70 million euros (79.5 million dollars) worth of military aid, including Milan launchers and rockets. It will now send 30 more launchers and 500 more rockets, along with 203 bazookas, 4,000 more rifles and 10 Dingo armoured vehicles. The new aid, announced after a meeting in Berlin between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, is worth 13 million euros. A-Abadi, for his part, noted that intelligence links with Germany were vital in tracking foreign fighters, among them German nationals. now in the service of the Islamic state. “There is intelligence cooperation at the present time. There are thousands of foreign fighters from around the world, including from Germany,” he said. “We are hoping above all for cooperation in intelligence, in training and equipment to fight the Islamic State.” The Baghdad leader, who was later due to attend the Munich Security Conference, added: “We have information that these terrorist organizations have developed a special type of weapon to use in their terrorist operations and therefore we need more cooperation.” He did not explain what the weapon was. Merkel made no comment on intelligence swaps and did not mention the impending top-up in arms aid. “Unless we get proper international support, we will not succeed. It is in the interest of the whole world to reduce the duration of this conflict,” the Iraqi premier. In the meantime, Baghdad has drafted a plan to recover the city of Mosul from Islamic State forces holding it. “I don’t want to go into the detail, but this is an extensive, comprehensive plan, based on equipping the Iraqi and Peshmerga troops, and based on coordination between the central and the Kurdistan government at the highest level,” he said. /End/