French President Francois Hollande has announced France will be supplying arms to Kurdish forces "in the coming hours", reports Le Monde.
"In order to meet the urgent needs expressed by the regional authorities in Kurdistan, the head of state has decided, in agreement with Baghdad to make route of weapons in the coming hours," a statement by the Elysee Palace on Wednesday read.
Joining the US and Iran in expressing support for Iraq's new government under Haider Al Abadi, the statement went on to say:
"France reiterates its support to the Prime Minister designate, Mr. Haidar AL-ABADI, as well as Iraqi political leaders including the President of the Republic and the President of Parliament. It is essential for the early set up a unity government, representative of all Iraqi communities to fight effectively against the Islamic State."
Meanwhile the United States sent over 130 military advisers to the Kurdish region, the US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday.
Stressing that "this is not a combat boots on the ground kind of operation," Hagel said they would assist in assessing the humanitarian and military situation on the ground, and "give more in-depth assessment of where we can continue to help".
The UK has sent Chinook helicopters to an RAF base close to the Kurdish region, in order to airlift arms, provided by other countries such as Qatar and the UAE, to the Kurdish forces, The Times reports.
UK and US aid drops continued on Wednesday, providing humanitarian assistance to the the Yazidi community stranded on Mount Sinjah.
Australia's Prime Minister, Tony Abbot, refused on Tuesday to rule out the possibility of Australian troops being deployed in military action in Iraq, stating that his government would "provide what assistance we reasonably can to protect people who are at risk”.
"“We certainly don’t rule that [military action] out. We are talking to our partners, and our partners in this instance are certainly much wider than simply the US and UK, about what we can usefully do to help, but what I want to stress is this is a humanitarian cause," The Australian quoted him as saying.
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