MOSCOW, September 4 – London is considering providing arms and training to Kurdish forces to help in their fight against Islamic State, the British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday.
"We're prepared to do more and we're considering actively whether to give them arms ourselves and whether we can do more directly to train Kurdish militia, we're already playing a role there but we can do more," Cameron said.
By sending weapons directly to Kurdistan and helping train its forces to resist Islamic State militants in Northern Iraq, Britain will follow the example of other European countries – Germany, France and Italy – that have already agreed to send a number of light weapons to the region.
The UK has so far sent non-lethal equipment to Kurdish regional forces allied with the Iraqi central government, and carried out aid drops and surveillance operations in the area.
The radical jihadist group Islamic State has already established control over northeastern Syria as well as certain territories in northern Iraq.
The Islamic State fighters pose a threat to all communities in the region, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, and others. David Cameron has adopted a tougher stance addressing the growing Islamist threat after the identification of a British hostage in a video entitled “A Second Message to America” that showed the beheading of another US journalist by an Islamic State militant.
