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Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - Heavily armed Kurdish peshmerga fighters set off from their base in northern Iraq Tuesday to support militia forces defending the Syrian border town of Kobane from the Islamic State group.

Military trucks loaded with weapons departed from the base northeast of the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil bound for the besieged town on the Turkish frontier, an AFP correspondent said.

More than three dozen vehicles carrying 80 fighters, machineguns and artillery were to travel overland to Kobane, crossing the border into Turkey on Tuesday, a Kurdish officer said.

The convoy included two towed artillery pieces and a number of covered trucks, some of them carrying rocket launchers.

Another 72 peshmerga fighters were to fly to Turkey early on Wednesday, the officer said.

Kobane's Kurdish defenders have been waiting for days for the arrival of the peshmerga fighters, after Turkey last week said it would allow them to traverse its territory to enter the town.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said there would no problem for the peshmerga to cross into Kobane, dismissing reports of delays imposed by Ankara.

"There is now no political problem. There is no problem in the way of them crossing. They can cross at any moment," Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the official Anatolia news agency.

Local Kurdish militia have been holding out against an IS offensive for weeks and the town has become an important symbol in the international battle against IS.

The fighting continued on Tuesday, an AFP reporter at Mursitpinar across the border in Turkey said, with black smoke rising over the town as the jihadists set fire to tyres in a bid to prevent air strikes.

Read more:
Iraq Kurd fighters leave base for Syria deployment

By Nick Paton Walsh, Gul Tuysuz and Jason Hanna, CNN

updated 12:16 PM EDT, Tue October 28, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Gaziantep, Turkey (CNN) -- Kurdish fighters from Iraq will enter the besieged Syrian border city of Kobani this week to reinforce fellow Kurds who are defending against ISIS, a Peshmerga general told CNN on Tuesday.

"The Peshmerga have been ready for a few days, then had logistical problems, but they no longer do," Brig. Gen. Halgurd Hikmat said of the Iraqi Kurdish forces. "They will possibly be leaving today or tomorrow."

He added that "we now have an agreement with Turkey on this."

Another source -- an official with the Ministry of Peshmerga, effectively the defense ministry for the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq -- said 161 Peshmerga fighters were making the trip.

The troops have weapons "that will be of good help to our brothers in Kobani," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Peshmerga militia generally defends the Kurdish region in northern Iraq and has battled ISIS in that nation.

Turkish officials were not immediately available to comment. But Turkey has previously said it will allow the Peshmerga to pass through its territory into Syria to join the fight for Kobani, which lies on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Original post:
Kurdish fighters set to enter Kobani

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Iraqs chemical weapons are back in the news. The New York Times reported that American troops found roughly 5,000 chemical warheads, shells and aviation bombs since the Iraq War began. Then last week The Washington Post reported the Islamic State had used chlorine gas against Iraqi police officers.

Whats going on? Weve been told Bush lied about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Now we learn theyve been showing up in the thousands and are toxic enough to injure people.

SEE ALSO: U.S. approves $600M tank ammunition sale to Iraq

The Times reporter stressed that the discovered items had been manufactured before 1991, arguing that they shouldnt count as evidence of active WMD programs which the Bush administration had claimed as an excuse for embarking on the Iraq war.

However the article failed to mention that the U.N. Security Council was concerned about destroying all Iraqi chemical weapons stocks, regardless of when they were manufactured. The discovery of these weapons proves that Saddam Hussein failed to fulfill his disarmament obligations under multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.

And the compliance issue was at the very core of the Bush administrations case against Iraq at the United Nations.

SEE ALSO: Hawks on the hunt: GOP pounces on Obama foreign policy flubs for poll edge

Saddam used chemical weapons late in the Iran-Iraq war. In March 1988, he used them against his own people, killing up to 5,000 Iraqi Kurds. The U.N. Security Council passed numerous resolutions documenting the legal case against Iraq over WMD. On April 3, 1991, the Security Council passed Resolution 687, requiring Iraq to destroy all of its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and missiles that could deliver them. The United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) was established to ensure Iraqs compliance.

Fast-forward to 2002 and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, negotiated by the Bush administration. It deplored the fact that Iraq still had not provided accurate, full, final, and complete disclosure of its weapons programs as required by Resolution 687.

Here is the original post:
KIM HOLMES: Uncomfortable truths: Explaining away Iraq's real WMD

Published October 28, 2014

Mahan Kasari, an 87 year-old Syrian Kurdish refugee woman from Kobani sits along with family members in Suruc on the Turkish side of the Turkey Syria border, Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, and its surrounding areas, has been under assault by extremists of the Islamic State group since mid-September and is being defended by Kurdish fighters. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)(The Associated Press)

People watch the town of Kobani during airstrikes by the US led coalition seen from the outskirts of Suruc, near the Turkey-Syria border, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014. Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, and its surrounding areas, has been under assault by extremists of the Islamic State group since mid-September and is being defended by Kurdish fighters. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)(The Associated Press)

People watch the town of Kobani during airstrikes by the US led coalition seen from the outskirts of Suruc, near the Turkey-Syria border, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014. Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, and its surrounding areas, has been under assault by extremists of the Islamic State group since mid-September and is being defended by Kurdish fighters. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)(The Associated Press)

Smoke and flames rise from an Islamic State fighters' position in the town of Kobani during airstrikes by the US led coalition seen from the outskirts of Suruc, near the Turkey-Syria border, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014. Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, and its surrounding areas, has been under assault by extremists of the Islamic State group since mid-September and is being defended by Kurdish fighters. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)(The Associated Press)

IRBIL, Iraq A spokesman for Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga fighters says dozens of them will fly to Turkey and from there cross into the Syrian border town of Kobani.

The spokesman, Halgurd Hekmat, says the peshmerga fighters will leave the city of Irbil, in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, later on Tuesday.

Last week, the local Iraqi Kurdish government authorized the peshmerga forces to go to neighboring Syria and help fellow Kurds combat Islamic State militants in Kobani.

A total of 150 peshmerga fighters were authorized to go to Kobani through Turkey.

The Islamic State group launched its offensive on Kobani and nearby villages in mid-September. The fighting has killed more than 800 people, according to activists.

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Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga fighters to fly to Turkey, en route to Syrian town of Kobani

Former Weapons Inspector in Iraq Raises Skepticism over Claims Iran Is Hiding Nuclear Weapons Tests
http://democracynow.org - We are broadcasting from Vienna, where the six world powers leading nuclear negotiations with Iran have set a November deadline to reach a deal to constrain Iran #39;s...

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