BARCELONA, Spain – Some 20 European Union (EU) ministers are meeting in Brussels on Friday to discuss arms supplies to Iraq’s Kurds, an initiative well under way with France and the United States already sending weapons and Britain and Germany ready to do the same.
Meanwhile, a UN Security Council meeting on Friday is expected to threaten sanctions against any country financing or backing the Islamic State (IS/ISIS).
US jets have been involved in airstrikes against IS positions in Erbil since last Saturday.
France, which said this week it is already sending weapons to Kurdish Peshmerga forces that have stood up to an IS advance in northern Iraq, is in the forefront of efforts to mobilize greater international support for the Kurds. It called an emergency EU and Security Council meetings to discuss the issue.
London’s The Telegraph newspaper quoted a Downing Street source as saying that initially Britain will supply hi-tech equipment such as night-vision goggles, but added that ammunition and weaponry could also be supplied on request.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Wednesday that his country is also prepared for arms supplies to the Kurds.
"We cannot just leave Kurdistan on its own and watch as people are slaughtered there," Steinmeier, a Social Democrat whose party shares power with the ruling conservatives, told ZDF television.
"If the current threat level persists (from IS), I cannot rule out that we will have to deliver weapons," he added.
His comments mark a turnaround of German policy, which severely restricts weapons exports. On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman had said that Germany was committed to maintaining its position of not sending arms to conflict zones.
On Thursday, an additional 130 US advisors landed in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil aboard four aircraft, but the Pentagon said the personnel and airplanes would be used only to help evacuate refugees, not for combat missions.
Since the start of this month, Western military support for the Kurdistan Regional Government has been mounting, especially after reports that IS militants were bent on decimating Iraq’s non-Muslim minorities like the Yezidis and Christians.
