By Ali Jawad
BAGHDAD (AA) – An international U.S.-led coalition has armed two brigades of peshmerga fighters, a senior official at the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG)’s Ministry for Peshmerga Affairs said Wednesday.
Lieutenant-General Jabbar Yawar also told Anadolu Agency that training for the two brigades was “nearing completion” in advance of a planned operation to recapture Iraq’s northern city of Mosul from the Daesh terrorist group.
“About one year ago, the international coalition began training and arming the first and second peshmerga brigades as part of a U.S. plan to arm Iraqi forces [against Daesh],” Yawar said.
He added that the arming phase had now drawn to a close while the training stage was “nearing completion”.
He went on to assert that both brigades would take part in an upcoming military campaign to “liberate Mosul from Daesh control”.
He described the weapons recently delivered to the two brigades as “sophisticated”. He did not elaborate further.
Anadolu Agency was unable to obtain immediate comment from coalition officials regarding Yawar’s assertions.
In April, Washington announced plans to arm nine Iraqi army brigades — along with three brigades of peshmerga fighters — after congress approved the allocation of $1.6 billion for this purpose.
On Monday, the Iraqi Defense Ministry came to an agreement with the KRG regarding details of the upcoming Mosul campaign, in which it was decided to use northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region as a launch-pad for the operation.
Iraqi military leaders have said the campaign would likely be launched in late October.
The U.S. is currently leading a 60-country anti-Daesh coalition, which has carried out numerous air strikes on the terrorist group’s strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
U.S. forces, meanwhile, have provided tactical advice and training to Iraqi security forces with a view to enhancing the latter’s capacity to fight Daesh.
Iraq’s security situation has deteriorated markedly since mid-2014, when Daesh captured Mosul — the country’s second largest city — along with vast swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.
In recent months, the Iraqi army — backed by coalition airstrikes and local allies on the ground — has since managed to retake much territory. Nevertheless, the terrorist group remains in firm control of several parts of the country, including Mosul.
Iraqi officials have repeatedly vowed to recapture Mosul by the end of the year.
