Iraqi Kurd leader declares Sinjar ‘liberated’ from ISIL

Taking Sinjar is a step toward dividing the “caliphate” that the so-called Islamic State strove to establish across portions of Iraq and Syria since proclaiming itself a worldwide caliphate in June 2014.

Kurdish fighters have reportedly entered Sinjar in northern Iraq, a day after launching an offensive to retake it from Islamic State (IS) militants.

The Shingal region has been under ISIS control for more than a year, where thousands of Yezidi civilians suffered from the atrocities of the extremist group. The route serves as the exteremists’ supply line from Syrian city of Raqqa, considered the de facto ISIS capital, to Mosul, a captured city in Iraq. The 75-mile-long highway has been one of the most active supply lines for ISIS, a major conduit for goods, weapons and fighters.

The regional security council said “peshmerga forces entered Sinjar town from all four directions to clear remaining (IS) terrorists from the area”.

The offensive, led by the Iraqi autonomous Kurdish region’s Peshmerga forces, also involved U.S. air support and fighters from the Yazidi minority, a local Kurdish-speaking community targeted in a brutal ISIL campaign of massacres, enslavement and rape.

Hundreds of pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles carrying Kurdish fighters were seen gathering at the entrance of Sinjar earlier Friday ahead of a planned push into the town centre. “However, there were competing claims from the two sides about which group had taken the road first and who held the checkpoints along the controlled portion of the road”. “We ran down the hill, like in a raid, and the whole time I saw just one dead Daesh [ISIS] fighter”.

“This is not a surprise”, the official said.

The plight of the Yazidis in Sinjar was witnessed by Foreign Correspondent Jonathan Rugman in August 2014 (watch video below).

A mass grave was also found. He can take credit for launching the operation. He added that the United States needed more effective partners to help stage an offensive in Iraq. The Iraqi government has raised concern that the Kurdish capture of Sinjar will strengthen the Kurdish government’s desire to attain statehood. “It’s time for the Yazidi girls to raise their heads up. Today we took revenge for every Yazidi”.

“Aside from the Kurdistan flag, no other flag will rise in Sinjar”.

While there were an estimated 600 Islamic State soldiers in Sinjar prior to the attack, eyewitness accounts suggest that the ground troop met with little resistance after the bombing which killed 60 to 70 enemy targets. Peshmerga fighters have been preparing for this operation for months, having re-conquered nearby Mount Sinjar late previous year. The Kurds have a few of the most experienced forces in Iraq, where they fought Saddam’s security forces for decades.