DHAKA: French president Francois Hollande on Thursday pledged his country’s ‘support’ to forces battling Islamist militants in Iraq amid growing Western concern over an advance by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters.

‘The President confirmed that France was available to support forces engaged in this battle,’ Hollande’s office said in a statement, after the French leader spoke about Iraq by telephone with the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Massud Barzani.

Hollande did not specify what form the ‘support’ could take.

Hollande and Barzani ‘expressed their willingness to cooperate to block the offensive carried out by the Islamic State in the north-east of Iraq,’ the statement added, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 2323 HRS, AUG 07, 2014