Kurdish Peshmerga forces advance against Daesh in Sinjar
Officials say around 7,500 Peshmerga forces are participating in operation, with air support provided by U.S.-led international coalition
Peshmerga forces from Iraq’s Kurdish region seized control of the governor’s office of Sinjar district Thursday in an extensive military operation against Daesh, according to the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Hemin Hawrami, head of foreign relations at the party, said on Twitter that the Peshmerga forces clashed with Daesh in central Sinjar and are advancing rapidly, taking control of many villages east of the district.
Hawrami added that the forces managed to seize control of a strategic road that connects Sinjar with Raqqa, Daesh’s stronghold in Syria.
Officials said around 7,500 Peshmerga forces are participating in the operation, with air support provided by the U.S.-led international coalition.
Jamal Eminki, the Iraqi Kurdish region’s chief of staff, told Anadolu Agency that the Peshmerga forces advanced approximately 10 kilometers into the area and are gaining ground in the eastern part of Sinjar.
Eminki asserted that no PKK terrorist group militants participated in the operation and the Peshmerga only received support from the international coalition.
He said the operation is taking place under the command of President Masoud Barzani.
Sinjar is a town located 120 kilometers west of Mosul with an Ezidi Kurdish majority. It had fallen to Daesh in August 2014.
Thousands of Ezidis were forced to flee their homes to the nearby Sinjar Mount where they had been besieged by the militant group before the Peshmerga forces saved them.
