ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Peshmerga forces in the Kurdistan region have begun shelling ISIS-held villages in neighboring Syria’s western Kurdish enclave known as Rojava.

Qasin Shasho, the Shingal security administrator told Rudaw the purpose behind this attack is to retake Kurdish villages held by ISIS in the area.

Shasho said Peshmerga artillery has shelled ISIS bases in Rojava and ground forces have advanced from the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

“As a result of the Peshmerga advance the villages of Tarbik and Tal-Mushrif were liberated in southern Kurdistan,” said Shasho, referring to communities inside Iraqi Kurdistan.

Brigadier Hashim Sitai, a Peshmerga commander in Shingal, told Rudaw: “With the help of the Peshmerga more than 500 YPG fighters managed to cross into Rojava to fight ISIS.”

The YPG, or People’s Protection Units, is an armed group composed of Syrian Kurds fighting ISIS.

Rudaw