Free Republic

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – US forces have reached on the top of Mount Sinjar (Shingal) to establish a new a military base, a Kurdish Ezidi official said on Friday. “Today, 15 military vehicles of US troops arrived on top of Mount Shingal and stationed themselves near Mira peak on the mountain,” Jalal Khalo, deputy mayor in Shingal, told Kurdistan 24. The US forces are preparing to build a military base on the mountain, Khalo added. Mount Shingal is one of the most strategic locations in Iraq, lying near the border with Syria and 125 km west of Mosul. The Kurdish...

Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Rabia on Tuesday morning News / Kurdistan Peshmerga Forces Free Rabia and Head Towards Sinjar 30.09.2014 BasNews, Erbil   Early Tuesday morning, Kurdish Peshmerga forces attacked Islamic State (IS) militants in Rabia and Zumar in Northern Iraq and were able to take control of Rabia, a strategically vital town on the Iraq - Syria border.   According to Peshmerga in the area, Kurdish forces have begun an operation to re-take the areas surrounding Sinjar. They plan to open a route that will facilitate the liberation of the majority-Yazidi town in northern Iraq.   BasNews has...

United states warplanes target the center of the Yazidi town Sinjar in northern Iraq. According to a Kurdish Yazidi Peshmerga commander on Mount Sinjar, Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK) guerrillas are obstructing US and Yezidi Peshmarga attacks in Sinjar. The commander, Qasim Shashou, claimed that in collaboration with the Peshmerga, US jets have successfully bombed the center of Sinjar and have inflicted heavy losses on the Islamic State (IS) militants. “We are ready to advance into Sinjar and we have a strong, coordinated plan. However PKK fighters, who call themselves the Sinjar people’s protection force, are making it difficult for us...

US drones fired on an Islamic extremist mortar position in northern Iraq on Tuesday to protect Kurdish forces battling to rescue a group of Yazidi civilian refugees, the military said. The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), the region's most powerful Sunni jihadist group, has driven thousands of members of the Yazidi minority from their homes and is besieging the refugees on an exposed mountain. Last week, the United States launched an air campaign to break the siege of Mount Sinjar, bring humanitarian relief to the Yazidis and support Kurdish troops protecting their capital Arbil. "US military...

The prospect of having U.S. troops help stage a rescue mission in Iraq appears "far less likely" a Defense Department official said Wednesday following the return of a team of military personnel from a mountain where religious refugees had taken shelter. Earlier in the day, the White House appeared to walk a fine line on the question of an evacuation attempt as armed U.S. troops arrived in Islamic State-held territory in northern Iraq to plan a possible rescue mission while officials insisted they wouldBut Wednesday night Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said the troops sent to Mt. Sinjar...

The U.S. is weighing a military mission in Iraq to rescue thousands of Yazidi refugees, a move that risks putting American forces in direct confrontation with Sunni fighters for the Islamic State. The proposal is still under development and hasn't been approved by President Barack Obama. U.S. officials said the rescue mission is one of many options the U.S. military is weighing after dropping food and water to dying refugees over the past six days. "People are looking at ways to do something more than just drop water and supplies," one senior U.S. official said. "You can only do that...