President Francois Hollande said on Wednesday that France would continue to support the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq in their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The Kurdish Regional Government issued a written statement regarding the meeting of Hollande and Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud Barzani in Paris on Tuesday.
The statement said Hollande welcomed the victory of the Peshmerga and other Kurdish forces against ISIL militants in the Syrian town of Kobani.
"France will work in concert with EU countries to help the Kurdish Regional Government more," Hollande was quoted as saying.
According to the statement, Hollande said EU countries and France would do more to meet the military and weapon needs of the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
Barzani, for his part, praised France's assistance and said it played a key role in their battle against ISIL.
The statement also said Barzani informed his counterpart about preparations with the Iraqi government to retake Mosul from ISIL, who seized it in September 2014.
Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish forces have been fighting ISIL in Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, after militants captured a number of villages surrounding the Kurdish-populated city, which are only a few kilometers from Turkey’s southern border.
Last year, the ISIL overran vast territories in both Iraq and Syria, prompting the U.S. to form an international coalition to fight it.
In recent months, an international coalition led by U.S. has launched numerous aerial strikes against ISIL targets in both Iraq and Syria.
