The Telegraph claims that Gulf states have been planning to send heavy weapons directly to the Kurdish Peshmerga, which would be contrary to the US policy of only arming Iraqi players through the central government in Baghdad.
However, all efforts to persuade the US President of the urgency of such an action have fallen on deaf ears, leading regional allies to accuse Obama and other coalition leaders of a failure to act appropriately in the face of the ongoing Islamic State (IS) threat.
A senior Arab official told The Telegraph, “If the Americans and the West are not prepared to do anything serious about defeating IS, then we will have to find new ways of dealing with the threat.
“With IS making ground all the time we simply cannot afford to wait for Washington to wake up to the enormity of the threat we face.”
With the US blocking transfers of arms directly to the Peshmerga, the Kurdish forces have been forced to defend and retake territory using out of date weapons.
A separate Gulf source expressed further frustration by claiming identified targets had been vetoed by the US, who are coordinating the response to IS.
“There is simply no strategic approach. There is a lack of coordination in selecting targets, and there is no overall plan for defeating IS.”