ERBIL
Peshmerga fighters, a term used to refer to armed Kurdish fighters in Iraq, are ready to go to the Syrian town of Kobani, near the Turkish border, a Kurdish official said on Monday.
“We are waiting for the Turkish government's answer to hit the road,” Mustafa Seyid Kadir, the Kurdish Regional Government's Minister of Peshmerga Affairs in Iraq, told reporters.
The Kurdish Regional Government's parliament unanimously voted on Wednesday last week to send peshmerga forces via Turkey to the besieged Syrian town of Kobani to fight against ISIL militants.
Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, is currently being defended by the People’s Protection Units, the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party, which is listed by Turkey as a terrorist group.
The Syrian-Turkish border town has been the scene of fierce battles between Kurdish groups and ISIL since mid-September.
The vote at the regional parliament came two days after Turkey said it would help peshmerga forces access Kobani through Turkish territory.
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