ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan Region
The fourth batch of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga troops is currently on its way to the Turkish province of Sanliurfa in order to reach the Syrian town of Kobani, an AA correspondent has observed.
The 124 peshmerga troops have left Friday for the airport, in Erbil, capital of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government in order to fly to Sanliurfa province, from which they will cross the border by bus to reach Kobani.
The deputy minister of peshmerga, Enver Haci Osman, during a press conference held on the occasion of the departure, thanked Turkey for permitting the troops to go into Syria through its territory.
The Iraqi Kurdish Regional government is replacing its forces in Kobani every month to avoid fatigue.
The previous batch of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces, composed of 160 troops, crossed the border to Kobani on Jan. 16 to help Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known also as Daesh.
The Iraqi Kurdish Regional government sent the first batch of peshmerga troops to Kobani on Oct. 28, 2014, after obtaining permission from Turkey.
The decision to send troops to Kobani was taken when Daesh militants attempted mid-September to capture the Kurdish-populated town, located a few kilometers away from the Turkish border.
Clashes between the Syrian Kurdish fighters and Daesh in Kobani forced around 200,000 people to take shelter in Turkey by late 2014.
In late January 2015, the Kurdish forces said they had freed Kobani from the Daesh fighters.
But, the Iraqi Kurdish authorities have said that they would continue sending forces to Kobani as long as the Kurdish Peoples Protection Unit fighting in Syria (YPG) needed them.
