Kurds and U.S. Open Offensive to Cut ISIS Supply Route
- 8 years ago
Backed by American air power, Kurdish officials early Thursday morning announced the start of a ground offensive to retake the western Iraqi town of Sinjar from Islamic State fighters, and cut a major jihadist supply line between Syria and the Iraqi city of Mosul.
The operation, which comes as the American-led coalition is trying to regain the initiative in the struggle with the Islamic State, holds out the possibility of progress along a new front in northern Iraq against the militants.
The aim is to add pressure on Islamic State fighters being who are being pressed militarily in northeast Syria; are partly encircled in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province in Iraq; and were recently evicted from Baiji in northern Iraq.
The pesh merga also plan to cut Highway 47, the major east-west road that runs past Sinjar and connects Syria to Mosul, which the Islamic State captured last year .
The operation, which comes as the American-led coalition is trying to regain the initiative in the struggle with the Islamic State, holds out the possibility of progress along a new front in northern Iraq against the militants.
The aim is to add pressure on Islamic State fighters being who are being pressed militarily in northeast Syria; are partly encircled in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province in Iraq; and were recently evicted from Baiji in northern Iraq.
The pesh merga also plan to cut Highway 47, the major east-west road that runs past Sinjar and connects Syria to Mosul, which the Islamic State captured last year .