lawmakers in Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdish region voted on Wednesday to authorise sending Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga to help defend the embattled town of Kobane in Syria, where fellow Kurds are facing an onslaught by militants of the Islamic State group.
Kurdish officials said an unspecified number of fighters would be sent through Turkey to support their ethnic brethren in a battle playing out just across the Turkish border. The fight has grabbed the world’s attention and triggered sympathy for the outgunned Kurds.