ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The US will deliver F-16 warplanes to the Iraqi military and promised to supply separately arms to nine Iraqi army brigades and three Peshmerga brigades by the end of the summer, according to US Ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones in comments to journalists in Baghdad Tuesday.
Jones added that the US does not plan to open new military bases in Iraq, but said the Balad airbase would be prepped to receive the promised jets. Balad is located in the Sunni Triangle 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
On Monday, Jabar Yawar, a spokesman for the Kurdistan region’s Ministry of Peshmerga, announced at a press conference in Erbil the ministry had “started distributing registration forms for those who want to voluntarily join the Peshmerga forces and until now thousands of volunteers have signed up to join."
"The USA has decided to arm the three volunteer brigades of the Peshmarga," Yawar added.
In 2011 the Iraqi government reached an agreement with the US to buy 36 F-16s, but because of security concerns about the ongoing ISIS war, none of the warplanes have been sent to Iraq yet.
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