Iraqi Kurds push farther into Sinjar as air strikes destroy Isis strongholds
Four of the Iraq strikes were near Sinjar in northern Iraq, which destroyed Isis buildings, tactical units and vehicles. Other Iraqi cities targeted included Tal Afar, Ramadi, Mosul and Baiji, according to the Combined Joint Task Force.
The strikes in Syria focussed around the contested city of Kobani near the Turkish border, it said in a statement.
There were five air strikes near Kobani on Saturday followed by the three on Sunday. In Iraq, US and partner nations conducted eight air strikes on Saturday, including near Tal Afar, Ar Rutba, Mosul and Baiji, the task force said.
On Sunday, Iraqi Kurdish fighters pushed their way into Sinjar, which was captured by Isis last summer. Further to the east, near the Syrian border, Iraqi security forces battled Isis as they tried to retake the strategic military airport of Tal Afar.
The battle for Sinjar and the surroundings has become the latest focus in the campaign to take back territory lost during the militants’ summer blitz that captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq and neighbouring Syria. Last week, Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters launched the operation to retake Sinjar and opened up a passageway to Mt Sinjar, which overlooks the town.
The development was an incremental step and helped evacuate some of the thousands of Yazidis trapped on the mountain following the town’s fall in August.
On Sunday, loud explosions and intense gun battles were heard from inside the town as coalition aircraft bombed Isis targets. The president of the self-ruled northern Kurdish region, Masoud Bazani, vowed to crush Isis fighters.
“Most of the districts are under our control,” Barzani told peshmerga troops as he toured their positions on Mt Sinjar. “We will crush the Islamic State.”
At least 15 Kurdish fighters wounded in Sunday’s clashes were brought from the front lines to a makeshift clinic on the mountain.
The spokesman for the Kurdish forces, Jabbar Yawar, said the fighters were still facing resistance from pockets of Isis militants still inside the town and that it is “far from cleared”. He declined to provide more details on the going operation.
Meanwhile, Iraqi counter-terrorism forces launched an offensive Saturday to retake the military airport near the town of Tal Afar from the Isis group, said a Baghdad official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to media. Tal Afar is a mixed Shiite-Sunni city of some 200,000 located strategically near the Syrian border to the east of Sinjar.
The Guardian
