Norway has decided to join the international coalition fighting against the Islamic State militants in Iraq. Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said that her country will send 120 soldiers to Iraq this year while another 75 soldiers will be deployed to Afghanistan in 2015.
Solberg said that her country cannot overlook Iraq's request for international help in fighting the Islamic State militants. However, she added that Norwegian soldiers would not take part in the fighting but would provide military training to Iraqi troops, reports the Associated Press.
Norwegian Minister of Defense Ine Eriksen Søreide said that her country would not use its F-16 fighter jets in northern Iraq.
Two months ago, Norway had pledged to provide a C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft to deliver humanitarian aid to the Iraqi region of Kurdistan, though it denied permission to use it for transportation of weapons.
Terming the Islamic State militants as "extremely brutal and violent," the Norwegian government said that the recent advances by the militants were a major threat to the region's security.
"ISIL is a global problem that must be solved with global means," said Børge Brende, Norwegian minister of foreign affairs. "But it's the Iraqi government that must handle the fight in Iraq, supported by the Arab world and supported by us," she said, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Brende also said that a humanitarian catastrophe has happened in Iraq as nearly 2 million people have been displaced due to the fighting.
Norway has contributed $27.5 million in humanitarian aid to Iraq this year.
