The Danish government is ready to contribute to the United States' military and humanitarian operations in northern Iraq, Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said Thursday.
"We are facing a major humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are fleeing because of the Islamic State assault. We will take a strong position against the Islamic State of Iraq,” Thorning-Schmidt said in a statement.
The prime minister said Denmark would contribute with additional humanitarian aid and a transport aircraft that could transport relief supplies to the area, adding that concrete relief will be provided to the people in need in northern Iraq.
Most parties in parliament have expressed support, but some of them will await the specific proposal from the government before they finally announce their decisions, the Danish news agency Ritzau reported.
The Danish government decided on Sunday to send additional 2 million Danish kroner (around 358,000 U.S. dollars) for emergency aid for refugees in northern Iraq, bringing the total sum of humanitarian aid to Iraq to 30 million kroner so far this year.
The U.S. forces have supported Kurdish fighters and the Iraqi government by carrying out a dozen airstrikes against Islamic State forces in recent days. (1 U.S. dollar = 5.55 Danish kroner)