MONTREAL, Canada – Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced additional assistance to Peshmerga forces, as Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani said international support would help the Kurds continue the fight against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).
“By offering safe haven to over 850,000 displaced persons internally and by engaging in direct combat with ISIL forces the Kurdish people have shown the world their strength and their commitment to pluralism and peace,” Baird told Barzani in Erbil on Thursday.
“Canada stands by the security forces in Iraq, including the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, in achieving this goal,” said the minister, who arrived on an unannounced visit.
Welcoming international support, Barzani said that with the modest means at their disposal the Kurdish forces had managed to hold back “a well-armed terrorist state.”
“With the help of our friends and the free world, the Peshmerga will continue fighting and defeating the terrorists,” he said, quoted on the presidential website.
“It is an honor for the Peshmerga and the people of Kurdistan to be fighting terrorism on behalf of the free world to defend human values,” said Barzani.
Baird announced delivery of 15 million Canadian dollars in non-lethal assistance -- $10 million for helmets, body armor and logistics support and the remainder to help stop the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria.
Baird also announced a further 7 million Canadian dollars in humanitarian assistance for relief supplies, emergency shelter and urgent healthcare for thousands of civilians in northern Iraq, as well as support to humanitarian organizations on the ground.
At a joint news conference with Baird, Barzani’s chief of staff Fuad Hussein said what the Kurds needed most were weapons.
“We need more weapons,” Hussein said. “It will be a long fight."
He added that many jihadi fighters arrive from foreign countries, including Canada, armed with more sophisticated weapons seized from Iraqi forces or brought in from Syria.
On Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged further action to combat the rising threat of IS in the Middle East and the world. Speaking to a business audience in London before flying to Wales for the NATO summit, Harper said Canada is prepared to take on IS, but on a budget.
"It obviously has the capacity of not just leading regional jihad, but becoming a massive terrorist training base for the globe and I don't think we can sit still for this," Harper said.
Last Friday, Canada completed its first delivery of military equipment, donated by Albania, to security forces in Iraq. Five Canadian flights have delivered donated military supplies to Iraq, part of the country’s effort to help with logistics and non-lethal aid.
Approximately 100 Canadian Armed Forces personnel are deployed, including aircrew, ground crew and logistical support personnel.
Since the beginning of 2014, Canada has allocated $28 million to respond to humanitarian needs in Iraq. In June 2014, Iraq was added to the list of Canada’s development country partners.
Baird visited a refugee camp in Erbil, pledged Canadian support to Yezidi and Christian leaders and visited the Peshmerga frontlines.
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