"The next major shipment from us is two brigades-worth of equipment to be used to arm the two brigades that they will contribute to the encirclement of Mosul," Carter said. "That's [retaking Mosul] an important objective, and precisely our equipment is going to make that possible."
Carter’s comments come after the Kurdish Rudaw Media Network reported on Wednesday that a suspected Daesh attack at a northern Iraqi base killed two soldiers trained by Turkish troops and injured six others. The outlet added that the three-hour attack targeted the Gudad military base in the Mosul town of Bashik.
The US defense secretary said this recent shipment of weapons isn’t the only time the United States has been giving arms to the Kurdish Peshmerga military forces.
"And we have been arming the Peshmerga from the very early days," Carter added. "It hasn't just been us. There are I think 12 countries — but anyway, a large number, who also — who are part of the coalition- who also sent arms."
On December 4, Turkey deployed about 130 troops and 25 tanks to a base in Iraq's Mosul region in a move regarded by Baghdad as illegal. Turkey started withdrawing its troops on December 14, after Iraq had officially filed a complaint with the UN Security Council.
Large territories of Iraq and Syria have been occupied by Daesh, a terrorist group outlawed in Russia. Daesh has carried out numerous terror attacks and committed many human rights atrocities worldwide.