Iraqi Peshmerga Soon To Enter Kobani To Fight ISIS

Kurdish fighters from Iraq will enter the besieged Syrian border city of Kobani soon to reinforce fellow Kurds who are defending against ISIS, a Peshmerga general told CNN on Tuesday.

"The Peshmerga have been ready for a few days, then had logistical problems, but they no longer do," Brig. Gen. Halgurd Hikmat said of the Iraqi Kurdish forces.

He added that "we now have an agreement with Turkey on this."

The fighters were en route Tuesday, a Ministry of Peshmerga official who wouldn't give his name because of operational security reasons told CNN.

One group traveling by air landed in Turkey early Wednesday, according to media reports.

Earlier, the official with the Ministry of Peshmerga -- effectively the defense ministry for the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq -- said 161 Peshmerga fighters were making the trip.

The troops have weapons "that will be of good help to our brothers in Kobani," said the official.

Another group of fighters was traveling on the ground, according to Turkey's semi-official Anadolu News Agency. That group is armed with heavy weapons, Anadolu reported.

A senior adviser to Kurdish President Masoud Barzani tweeted Wednesday that the fighters would eat breakfast in Kobani with Syrian Kurdish fighters.

The Peshmerga militia generally defends the Kurdish region in northern Iraq and has battled ISIS in that nation.

Turkish officials were not immediately available to comment. But Turkey has previously said it will allow the Peshmerga to pass through its territory into Syria to join the fight for Kobani, which lies on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Kobani, known in Arabic as Ayan al-Arab, is a largely Kurdish town defended by a Kurdish-Syrian militia.

With ISIS controlling the Syrian land surrounding Kobani, the Peshmerga's easiest path into Kobani is through Turkey.

Hikmat would not confirm how the Kurdish fighters from Iraq would join the Kurdish defenders in Kobani but said they would bring weapons and would participate in the fighting.

The weapons would be Saddam Hussein-era gear collected in Iraq, not new coalition armaments, Hikmat added.

ISIS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, captured portions of Syria and Iraq this year in its bid to establish what it says is an independent Islamic nation. ISIS began attacking Kobani in September.

The Ministry of Peshmerga official also said Tuesday that the Peshmerga would be in Kobani on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

(CNN)