Iraqi Kurds Take Control Over Vital ISIS Supply Route
Supported by US special forces and airstrikes, 7,500 Kurdish troops are closing in on the key town of Sinjar
Supported by U.S.-led airstrikes, Kurdish Iraqi troops on Thursday, Nov. 12, seized part of a highway that is used as a vital supply line for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a key initial step in a major offensive to retake the strategic town of Sinjar from the extremists.
Heavy smoke billows during an operation by Iraqi Kurdish forces backed by US-led strikes in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, Mosul province, on November 12, 2015, to retake the town from the Islamic State group and cut a key supply line to Syria. The autonomous Kurdish region's security council said up to 7,500 Kurdish fighters would take part in the operation, which aims to retake Sinjar "and establish a significant buffer zone to protect the (town) and its inhabitants from incoming artillery." AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images
SINJAR, Iraq—Supported by U.S.-led airstrikes, Kurdish Iraqi troops on Thursday, Nov. 12, seized part of a highway that is used as a vital supply line for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a key initial step in a major offensive to retake the strategic town of Sinjar from the extremists.
Highway 47 passes by Sinjar and indirectly links the extremists' two biggest strongholds—Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in northern Iraq.
