French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is travelling to Baghdad and the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil for talks with Iraqi leaders, his ministry said Sunday.

Fabius, who left France early Sunday, will meet with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari in the capital before flying to Arbil in the country's north where US forces have launched air strikes against Islamic extremists. In Arbil, Fabius will hold talks with Iraqi Kurdish president Massud Barzani and oversee the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians who have fled the advance of the Islamist fighters.