International Training Mission Begins for Forces in Northern Iraq

Feb 18, 2015

Training Peshmerga fighters Enlarge image Bundeswehr soldiers training Peshmerga fighters in Kurdistan (© picture alliance / dpa) German military personnel are part of the international coalition that began training Peshmerga forces, the soldiers of the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, on February 15. Military personnel from Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany will train the Peshmerga forces over the next four weeks to fortify them in the fight against ISIS militants.

Some 120 Kurdish soldiers have reported for training at the camp outside of Erbil. The Bundestag has approved a mission of up to 100 Bundeswehr soldiers for the international training deployment.

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visited the training camp in January to get a first-hand look at the site where Bundeswehr advisors would be conducting training.

Bundeswehr in northern Iraq Enlarge image Colonel Jochen Schneider (© Bundeswehr/PAO KTCC TF Erbil) Speaking at the ceremonial opening of the Kurdistan Training Coordination Center, Colonel Jochen Schneider praised the Kurdish armed forces as brave, excellent soldiers. With their strong resistance and their will to defend themselves, they have demonstrated that they can seriously defend their land, their people and finally Europe and the world against this enemy of humanity, Col. Jochen said. 

In conjunction with the international training mission, Germany has also agreed to deliver an additional 13 million euros worth of weapons, ammunition, armored vehicles and other military equipment to northern Iraq. This is in addition to German military equipment delivered to northern Iraq in three phases in the fall. Before this international mission, Bundeswehr personnel were training Peshmerga fighters in how to use the German equipment.

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International Training Mission

Capital city Berlin