SHARE ON













ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian pledged to continue arming the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) during talks in Erbil Tuesday with Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, saying more weapons would arrive in June."In June, French military supplies will be sent to the Peshmerga," Le Drian was quoted as saying after the meeting, in a statement from Barzani’s office.The French official said his country considered Kurdistan’s war with ISIS as its own war, too."The fight against terror is ours too. Those terrorists the Peshmerga have been confronting here are the same terrorists carrying out explosions and terror attacks in France and other countries around the world," the statement quoted the French minister as saying.The discussions also focused on Mosul, the northern Iraqi city that ISIS has held as its headquarters since capturing it in June 2014. A joint assault on Mosul by Iraqi and Peshmerga forces, and with backing from the US-led coalition that includes France, is anticipated. But no timeline for the offensive has been announced."The liberation of Mosul is very important for the Kurdistan Region," Barzani told the French minister. He urged France "to help send a share of arms to the Peshmerga that it (Paris) sends to Baghdad.”Since ISIS attacked Erbil and ignited a war with the Kurds that is still ongoing, Kurdish officials have pleaded that arms supplies from abroad should go directly to the Peshmerga. But apart from a few exceptions such as Germany, the United States and other Western countries insist on arms to the Kurds routed through Baghdad, whose relations with Erbil remain frayed.Both leaders also stressed on the need for greater aid for the nearly 2 million refugees that have taken shelter in Kurdistan from Syria and other parts of war-ravaged Iraq.Le Drian also was received by Kurdish President Masoud Barzani. Sources told Rudaw that Le Drian is also expected to visit a coalition training center in Erbil where many French military experts are training the Peshmerga.Le Drian arrived in Erbil late Monday from talks in Baghdad.