WASHINGTON: Kurdish forces backed up by U.S.-led warplanes have recaptured a large area in Iraq near the Syrian border in an offensive against ISIS jihadis, a top U.S. commander said Thursday.

More than 50 airstrikes in recent days by coalition aircraft "have resulted in allowing those (Kurdish) forces to manuever and regain approximately 100 square kilometers of ground" near Sinjar, Lieutenant General James Terry, head of the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS, told reporters.

AFP