Kurdish Peshmerga retake Sinjar from IS

The Kurdistan Region’s Security council said 28 villages had been taken during “Operation Free Sinjar” and more than 200 sq km freed from militant control.

The two-day offensive took back the town after more than a year of Isis control, during which time its ethnic Yazidi inhabitants were killed or driven out.

US forces are backing the Kurdish factions in an ongoing offensive meant to cut off the two cities from one another, in preparation for the ultimate objective of retaking them with the help of local ground forces. During the same territorial push, IS advanced on Erbil, prompting the beginning of a US-led campaign of airstrikes against the group, first in Iraq and later in Syria. Associated Press journalists have seen them raise a flag over a building in the centre of the city, said the report.

The semi-autonomous Iraqi-Kurdish government is seeking to upgrade the district of Sinjar to the status of a province in the country after Kurdish fighters liberated the town from ISIS, the foreign minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said on Friday.

But Barzani’s remarks also made clear the battle for Sinjar was likely to be followed by political conflict. “And without doubt the liberation of Sinjar will have a big impact on the liberation of Mosul too, God willing”.

But bombs are not the only obstacles to a return by residents, as many houses and shops were smashed during the fighting. Burned out cars sat in the streets, while barrels apparently containing explosives had been left behind.

There were between 400 and 550 ISIS fighters inside Sinjar before the offensive began Thursday, according to estimates by the U.S.-led coalition.

Peter Cook, a Pentagon spokesman, was quoted saying, “The Peshmerga forces are carrying this out with, as you said, the support of coalition advisers”. Most of those folks as I understand it are behind the front lines advising and working directly with Peshmerga commanders. “There are a few advisers who are on Sinjar mountain assisting in the selection of airstrike targets”, he added.

Other analysts, however, said losing Mount Sinjar would not be a major blow to the Islamic State, which still holds large areas of territory throughout Iraq and Syria.

Aiding the Yazidis, whose unique faith Isis considers heretical, was one of Washington’s main justifications for starting its air campaign against the jihadists a year ago.

Yazidis are continuously pressuring the worldwide community to recognize the Daesh atrocities against them as a genocide. Islamic State systematically murdered and enslaved thousands of Yazidi minority members, exposing fugitive civilians to extreme conditions of blazing heat and lack of water.