Posted on 09/30/2015 5:30:56 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Kurdish forces backed by coalition airstrikes have driven Islamic State (ISIS) militants from eight villages in northern Iraq and reclaimed an area of over 140 square kilometers (54 square miles), the U.S.-led Combined Joint Task Force reports.
The large-scale offensive by Peshmerga fighters began early on Wednesday morning and focused on an area west of Kirkuk. "Peshmerga fighters successfully penetrated Daesh (ISIS) defensive positions, cleared fighters, liberated eight villages, and re-established government control over approximately 140 square kilometers between Huwayjah and Kirkuk," the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement.
Coalition aircraft carried out more than 50 airstrikes over the past few days to set favorable conditions for Wednesday's ground offensive.
"The Peshmerga fighters continue to reduce Daesh's initial gains in northern Iraq. This was another important fight in the overall effort to degrade and ultimately defeat Daesh," said coalition spokesman Col. Christopher Garver.
Over the last six months, Peshmerga forces have retaken some 670 square kilometers (258 square miles) of land from Islamic State forces in a series of large-scale offenses.
MORE HERE:
http://news.kuwaittimes.net/website/kurds-capture-ground-from-is-in-north-iraq/
EXCERPT:
Kurdish forces said they drove Islamic State out of several villages near the oil city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq yesterday after US-led coalition airstrikes targeted insurgent positions overnight. The assault, which began at dawn, is the latest of a number of offensives to consolidate Kurdish control over Kirkuk and drive the militants away. It also brought the peshmerga, the military forces of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, closer to the insurgents’ bastion of Hawijah.
Kurdish counter-terrorism forces said in a statement they, along with the peshmerga, had driven the militants out of four villages southwest of Kirkuk. “At six in the morning, the peshmerga and counter-terrorism forces began to advance as part of a plan to clear several more villages from Daesh terrorists and advance to the vicinity of the Hawijah district,” read the statement.
Daesh is a widely used Arabic name for the Islamic State group, also known as ISIL or ISIS. The Kurds took full control of Kirkuk last summer when Iraqi soldiers abandoned their bases in and around the city as Islamic State militants overran around a third of the country including Hawijah, around 55 km to the west.
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ISIS is history . The Russians will kill them real bad in what the head of the Russian Orthodox CHRISTIAN Church said today “is a Holy War!!” Putin goes to that Church. Praise Jesus and pass the ammunition!!
It’s waaaay past time we gave the Kurds their own country!
They have EARNED IT!
Give them Northern Iraq.
Meanwhile Iran is trying to win the propaganda war by accusing Saudi Arabia by lying about deaths at the Hajj as reported by their “information” outlet.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/09/29/431233/Saudi-Hajj-Mecca-Mina-
Russia made sure their first air action was aimed at anti-Assad fighters, not ISIL/Daesh.
Also the Taliban have just taken over the city of Kunduz in Afghanistan which was captured from them early in the post 9/11 attack there. Hope they get kicked out soon.
when the Russians bombed the free Syria forces , they killed all 5.
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