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Erbil, the Iraqi Kurds' capital: France wants to redress the 'imbalance' in Kurdish vs. IS military capabilities (Photo: Tom Blackwell)

EU countries give France green light to arm Iraqi Kurds

EU countries have moved a step closer to sending arms to Iraqi Kurds to help them fight the Islamic State (IS).

Ambassadors at a meeting of the bloc’s Political and Security Committee in Brussels on Tuesday (12 August) agreed that individual member states are free to send weapons, but stopped short of launching an EU-level effort to support the Kurdish militia, the Peshmerga.

The envoys’ joint statement “noted the urgent request by the Kurdish regional authorities to certain memb...

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

Erbil, the Iraqi Kurds' capital: France wants to redress the 'imbalance' in Kurdish vs. IS military capabilities (Photo: Tom Blackwell)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

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