ISIS News: Kurds Already on the Offensive to Reclaim Sinjar
On Thursday, the Kurds have finally started the bloody and intense journey from Mt. Sinjar to retake their town that was seized by the Islamic State.
The attack is the first known ground offensive that the Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been training for. Months of weapon handling and military training have started to pay off as the militia have regained some areas in Sinjar.
According to the Kurdish Region Security Council in a statement released late Thursday that more than 150 square kilometers (60 square miles) of territory have been reclaimed by the war-weary Kurds.
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CNN's Nick Paton Walsh says, "At dawn, a large procession of Peshmerga started snaking their way through Sinjar mountain and behind it."
For the past month, the U.S.-backed coalition Operation Inherent Resolve said numerous aircrafts have launched over 250 airstrikes all over the northern areas of Iraq destroying ISIS posts. Aside from terrorist positions, the airstrikes also targeted and took down control and command facilities, weapon storages, improvised explosive device cells, and other posts belonging to the extremist group.
Walsh says the sky over Sinjar looked black, and with the help of airpower hovering above the brave men who desire to take their homes back, it seemed even more powerful than the redemption of Kobani earlier this year.
Four months of battling the terrorists allowed militia to take over Kobani, a Syrian town in the border. However, some parts of the village have been left flat and wiped out, leaving remnants of the war.
Earlier in May, CNN reported that Kobani has started to rise from the ashes despite what the ISIS did to leave some areas uninhabitable. The question for Sinjar is, what amount will it pay for its fighters to claim victory?
A Pentagon spokesman says there are various U.S. personnel helping the Kurds in their ground offensives. Other coalition advisers from various countries are also reportedly participating in the efforts to take the town back.
Taking Sinjar back from the hands of the enemy is considered to be one of the biggest steps in the attempt to stop the ISIS from successfully establishing the "caliphate."
