(25 Sep 2014) The German minister of Defence visited the Kurdish region in northern Iraq on Thursday, and called for greater efforts with relief supplies and medical care.
Ursula von der Leyen arrived at Irbil Cathedral where she met Archbishop Bachar Matti Warda of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
The cathedral is currently being used as a haven for Christian Internally Displaced persons (IDP's) who have fled Islamic Fighters in the region.
Von der Leyen also visited a Peshmerga base, where Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers are currently receiving training from German soldiers.
Earlier on Thursday, she met with the president of Iraq's northern Kurdish region Masoud Barzani to discuss the fight against the Islamic State extremists and Berlin's efforts to help with arms deliveries.
Germany began delivering arms to the Kurds on Thursday, dispatching a shipment of 50 hand-held anti-tank weapons, 520 G3 rifles and 20 machine guns.
In total, the German plan calls for arming 10-thousand Kurdish fighters with some 70 million euros (90 million dollars) worth of equipment.
Germany is also sending some 40 paratroopers to help train the fighters to fight with the weapons.
Separately, 30 Kurds will train on more complex systems in Germany.
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