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Rudaw, 10 July 2016

Russia has provided the Iraqi Air Force with more Mi-28NE ‘Night Hunter’ helicopter gunships, the Iraqi Defense Ministry has said.

The defense ministry released a statement on Saturday in which they said, “The Command of the Army Aviation has received another batch of Russian Mi-28 NE ‘Night Hunter’ helicopters.”

The statement did not specify a number but said the helicopters will be ready in a few days.

The defense ministry also said that the gunships Russia delivers have “made a significant contribution in the [Iraqi] land forces’ fight against Daesh [Islamic State, ISIS] and the victory [over ISIS] in several operations.”

Iraq already has a fleet of Mi-28 and Mi-35M Hind gunships which have already participated in bombing ISIS targets during this war.

While the US-led anti-ISIS coalition has provided most of the air support to Iraqi and Kurdish forces throughout the war against ISIS Iraq’s air force has also provided air support to its ground forces. During the recent operation against ISIS in Fallujah Iraqi gunships targeted ISIS militants in the city in support of advancing Iraqi ground forces, Iraqi aircraft also bombed two ISIS convoys which tried to flee that war zone.

Since the war against ISIS began in June 2014 Iran and Russia supplied Baghdad with Su-25 attack planes to support their war effort, more recently the United States has begun delivering Iraq F-16’s, which have also flown airstrikes against ISIS targets.