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Australia will send 600 military personnel to the Middle East to contribute to United States-led international operations against Islamic State (IS) militants, according to Australian broadcaster ABC.
Prime Minister Tony Abbot said Sunday that the government had agreed to send 400 air force personnel and 200 military, 8 super hornet fighter jets, and an early warning aircraft and an aerial refueling craft as part of the coalition, following talks with U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday
"This is about taking prudent and proportionate action to protect our country and to protect the wider world against an unprecedented terrorist threat," ABC reported Abbot as saying on its website Sunday.
Australian troops will also train Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi troops in northern Iraq, added Abbot.
"We are not deploying combat troops but contributing to international efforts to prevent the humanitarian crisis from deepening."
He underlined that the military assistance to the international coalition did not mean "Australia is at war."
U.S. President Barack Obama announced Wednesday a new strategy to combat IS, saying that a U.S.-led coalition would strike the group throughout the whole of Iraq and Syria, a step that the administration had previously been reluctant to take.
IS - previously known as Islamic State of Iraq and Levant - is in control of large chunks of land in both Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. has led efforts to form a regional and international coalition to fight the threat posed by the group, the U.K. donating heavy machine guns and ammunition to Iraqi authorities in the fight.
www.aa.com.tr/en - Melbourne
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