Iraq: Islamic State

(asked on 27th May 2015) - View Source
Questioner
Hilary Benn Portrait
Hilary Benn
(Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent requests the UK has received from the Iraqi government for support to combat ISIL.

Answered by
Portrait
Lord Hammond of Runnymede
This question was answered on 1st June 2015
The Government is engaged in ongoing discussions with the Iraqi government and Coalition partners about support to combat ISIL. I will discuss this with Prime Minister Abadi during a meeting of the Global Counter-ISIL Coalition in Paris on 2 June.

The UK fully supports the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in the fight against ISIL. The UK is the second biggest contributor to Coalition airstrikes in Iraq, after the USA. At the request of the Iraqi government we have gifted over 50 tonnes of non-lethal support, 40 heavy machine guns and nearly half a million rounds of ammunition to the Kurdish Peshmerga. We have also delivered over 300 tonnes of weapons and ammunition on behalf of other Coalition nations. The UK has trained over 1,000 Peshmerga across our infantry and heavy machine gun courses.
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