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Iraq's Kurdish Peshmerga arrive in Kobane, Syria to help fight Islamic State

"We are ready to send more Peshmerga forces to Kobane, if we are asked," Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani said Thursday.

By JC Finley
About a dozen Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga officers arrive in Kobane, Syria, on Oct. 30, 2014. (UPI/Twitter/KRG-USA)
1 of 3 | About a dozen Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga officers arrive in Kobane, Syria, on Oct. 30, 2014. (UPI/Twitter/KRG-USA)

KOBANE, Syria, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The first deployment of Iraq's Kurdish Peshmerga officers crossed into Syria from Turkey on Thursday to help defend the embattled Syrian border town of Kobane from Islamic State takeover.

Approximately a dozen technical experts arrived first in order to establish where best to position more than 100 Peshmerga fighters and their military equipment, including antitank weaponry.

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The Kurdistan Regional Government's Parliament approved the deployment of its Peshmerga fighters to Kobane on Oct. 22.

KRG President Masoud Barzani said Thursday via Twitter that "We offered to send a large force to Kobane, but PYD leadership said they didn't need a fighting force, only a support artillery unit." Barzani added that "We are ready to send more Peshmerga forces to Kobane, if we are asked."

The KRG's office in Washington, D.C., tweeted a photo of the first Peshmerga fighters to arrive in Kobane.

Syrian Kurdish militia have been defending Kobane town from IS (also known as ISIS or ISIL) takeover for over a month. The United States has provided aerial support, launching airstrikes against IS targets surrounding the city, and delivered much needed Iraqi-supplied weapons to militia fighters.

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This week, between 50 and 200 Free Syrian Army fighters also arrived in Kobane to help Kurdish militia defend the Syrian border town.

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