ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The German defense ministry says it has delivered a new batch of weapons and ammunition to the Peshmerga forces after receiving assurances from the Kurdish government that arms will not end up in the black market.
According to the Reuters news agency, “A defense ministry spokesman said Germany had delivered 70 tonnes of weapons, including 1,500 rifles, 100 shoulder-fired rockets and three armored vehicles, to the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil on Tuesday.”
The new arms supply comes after the Germany military was reassured by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) that the weapons will stay in the hands of the Peshmerga forces in their fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Germany has been a main supplier of weapons to the Kurds since the start of the war against ISIS two years ago, providing, most importantly, the anti-tank Milan missiles that have proven the most effective against truck bombs on the frontlines.
The German government however was said to have halted its arms supply in January after reports that some of the weapons had been sold in the Kurdish market.
“An investigation by the Kurdistan government completed earlier this year found that about 30 weapons of over 28,000 delivered by Germany had been sold illegally or lost. Kurdish authorities arrested several people as a result.” Reuters reported.
“Germany has sent over 30 shipments of weapon totaling more than 2,000 tonnes to the Kurdistan regional government since 2014,” the ministry spokesman said, according to the report.
German military personnel are among coalition forces training the Kurdish Peshmerga at a base outside Erbil and most recently they built two new training centers near the capital.
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