The US is spending $24.1 million to purchase AK-47 automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars for Sunni tribesmen to use in their fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) according to a document posted on a government website. The document said the arms were being delivered “with, and through,” the Iraqi government, saying that to fail to arm the tribes would discourage anti-ISIS tribes from taking up the fight. The tribesmen are more suited to fighting in certain areas with large Sunni populations than are government troops.
On Saturday, Vice President Joe Biden announced a new grant of $135 million in humanitarian aid for those impacted by the fighting in Syria, including those who remain in there and those who have fled to Turkey and other neighboring countries. The latest grant raises to $3 billion the amount the US has provided to those affected by the civil war. Biden made the announcement in Istanbul while out of sight to the vice president, several hundred Turks demonstrated, chanting “Biden get out!”