Turkey has launched a program to train national guards of Iraq to help them fight Islamic State (IS) militants, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.

Turkey will provide training as much as demanded from the Iraqi side, Cavusoglu said in an interview with A Haber, a local TV station.

Turkey has also provided non-lethal military equipment for the Iraqi army.

Turkey has been giving similar assistance to Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq since last November in their struggle against the IS.

Ankara, in a joint program with the United States, is also training what are described as moderate Syrian rebels fighting against the IS in Syria.

Iraqi security forces and allied militias are in the middle of a major offensive to recapture Ramadi, the strategically important capital city of Anbar province, which was seized by IS militants on May 17.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since last June, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS militant group. Endit

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