BAGHDAD: Four US F-16 warplanes landed in Iraq on Monday, the first batch of a much-delayed delivery aimed at boosting the ailing Iraqi military’s capacity, the defence ministry said.
“Arrival of four F-16s at Balad air base,” read a flash on the ministry’s website, in an announcement also confirmed by the prime minister’s office. Brett McGurk, US President Barack Obama’s deputy envoy for the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) fighter group, also confirmed the jets had arrived.
“After years of preparation & training in the U.S., Iraqi pilots today landed the 1st squadron of Iraqi F16s in #Iraq,” he said on social media. The delivery had most recently been delayed over security concerns at
Balad, which lies around 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Baghdad.
