The Canadian military is reviewing its plan to provide the Kurds with weapons as fighting continues between Kurdish and Iraqi forces.

Canadian special forces have provided training to Kurdish troops and a plan has been developed to supplying them with weapons. The Department of National Defence has stated that work on the weapons shipment is still proceeding.

But sources say the Canadian Forces and the DND are now quietly reviewing whether to proceed with that arms shipment given the situation on the ground.

It is also becoming increasingly unlikely that the Iraqis will give approval for Canada to supply the Kurds with weapons, other sources added. The Canadian government has insisted that the arms shipment – part of a program to support the war against the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, would only be done with approval from the central government in Bagdad.

But with ISIL in retreat, Iraqi and Kurdish forces are now battling each other. The Kurds say at least 30 of their soldiers have been killed and another 150 wounded in ongoing clashes.

The Kurds want to separate from Iraq and during the war against ISIL they seized large portions of the country. That included the city of Kirkuk and nearby oil fields which hold an estimated 40 per cent of Iraq’s oil.

The Iraqi government declared the Kurdish referendum supporting independence illegal and sent troops to retake Kirkuk and other territory.

Both sides have accused each other of using weapons, that had provided by the West for the war against ISIL, for this new conflict.

Last Friday, the Iraqis said the Kurds used Milan anti-tank missiles supplied by Germany against its troops.

Kurdish forces said they destroyed 12 Abrams tanks and Humvees being used by Shia militia and Iraqi forces. But they suggest they didn’t do that using the German anti-tank weapons. “We reject the accusation claiming we used Milan weapons, and we ask a militia like Hashd al-Shaabi where they got (the) Abrams tanks, T72 tank, Humvees, and advanced weapon of the West from?” the Kurdish command noted in a statement.

Kurdish officials on Wednesday offered to put their independence efforts on hold and proposed an immediate ceasefire between the two groups. “The fighting between the two sides will not produce a victory for any, it will take the country to total destruction,” the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement.

Iraqi officials, however, have appeared to reject that and Iraqi forces are preparing for a larger offensive against the Kurds.

The previous Conservative government sent Canadian special forces to northern Iraq to train the Kurds. That program was continued by the Liberals.

Last year Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada would provide weapons to the Kurds in support of their efforts against ISIL.

But the issue of training and arming the Kurds has been highly controversial. Kurdish leaders openly acknowledged their intent was to eventually create an independent state. The arms are needed both to fight against ISIL and to defend an independent state, Kurdish leaders have said.

When asked directly last year about concerns Canadian training and equipment could aid the Kurds in their quest for independence, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance replied it was important to have political unity during the fight against the Islamic State. “Where, after, Iraq decides to go in terms of its political laydown is up to Iraq,” he said.

Just before fighting broke out between the Kurds and Iraqis, Canadian Brig.-Gen. Craig Aitchison a senior coalition officer, played down the dispute as “mostly rhetoric.”

Canada was looking to provide the Kurds with .50-calibre sniper rifles equipped with silencers, 60mm mortars, as well as Carl Gustav anti-tank systems. Details about the numbers of each type of equipment to be provided have been withheld for security reasons. Other gear includes grenade launchers, pistols, carbines, thermal binoculars, cameras, scopes and medical supplies.

Former Canadian diplomat Peggy Mason has said the Canadian government’s position — support for a unified Iraq despite training, supplying and providing active support to Kurdish forces — is no longer tenable, if it ever was. The two objectives are now in direct conflict, warned Mason, president of the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute.

dpugliese@postmedia.com

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