Posted on 08/14/2016 3:54:11 PM PDT by Mariner
Kurdish Peshmerga forces launched a fresh attack on Islamic State (IS) forces early on Sunday as part of a campaign to capture Mosul, the militants' de facto capital in Iraq, Kurdish officials said.
The advance began after heavy shelling and air strikes by a United States-led coalition against IS forces, a Reuters correspondent reported from Wardak, 30 km (19 miles) southeast of Mosul. The militants fought back, firing mortars at the advancing troops and detonating at least two car bombs.
A Peshmerga commander said a dozen villages had been taken from the ultra-hardline Sunni militants as Kurdish forces headed toward Gwer, the target of the operation, 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Mosul.
Repairing a bridge that the militants destroyed in Gwer would allow the Peshmerga to open a new front around Mosul. The bridge crosses the Grand Zab river that flows into the Tigris.
IS said in a statement on its Amaq news service that two car bombs driven by suicide fighters were detonated in one of the villages to block advancing Kurdish forces, causing casualties among the Peshmerga.
Authorities in autonomous Kurdistan gave no toll for the fighting, other than confirming the death of a Kurdish TV cameraman and the injury of another journalist.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
ISIS To Turkey, ISIS to Turkey, please come in, please come in. Help is urgently needed to rid ourselves of these pesky Kurds.
ISIS to Turkey, ISIS to Turkey, ...
And I hate to sound so conspiratory, but victory should be just in time for hillary to take credit somehow.
I’m very happy for any Christians who have been freed.
Yep considering that both she and Mr. Obama both founded ISIS.
meanwhile teamobama planing ways to defeat Kurds. Finding ways with Erogan to give fresh military supplies to pals and White House bff’s Ishilll.
The Kurds are the only ones worth a damn there.
Please let the Kurds have the northern part of Iraq. they deserve their own land. Iraq was cobbled together by the useless Brits. No reason why a new country cannot be created now.
The Kurds will win. They are FIGHTERS. Plus Erogan is too busy with what is going on in Turkey.
Pretty much the Kurds are a free country. Just make it official.
Didn’t our troops once capture Mosul? 0bama gave it back?
We can only hope that they can beat them off.
Turkey is the reason why, even though they’re a treacherous ally in name only.
I say screw them and let the Kurds have Turkish, Syrian AND Iraqi Kurdistan. Erdogan should be punished.
I just love your optimism. I really hope you are correct.
They are pretty much an independent country. They have their own armed forces. The reality is that Iraq is gone. What is NOT under the control of ISIS, is under the control of the shia/Iran, and of course, the Kurds.
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