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| Kurdish fighters on the outskirts of Sinjar (Image: Iraqi News) |
Iraqi Kurdish
leader Massud Barzani announced on Saturday, 14 November, that the city of
Sinjar was liberated from the ISIS forces.
Military
operation was led by the Kurdish peshmerga forces with the assistance of US-led
coalition airstrikes and also involved fighters from the Yazidi minority, who
were systematically persecuted by the ISIS militants in this region.
The offensive
also resulted in restoring control over several villages in the neighborhood of
Sinjar and cutting off the so called Highway 47, the main supply road for ISIS,
connecting their two strongholds, Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.
In addition to
that Syrian Democratic Forces coalition declared they've liberated the town of
Al-Hol which is located at the border and also was an important strategic and
logistic location for ISIS.
US military
experts and officials stated earlier that the operation to liberate Sinjare
could take up to two-four days, while the total clearing of the area from the
ISIS forces could take a week.
It's worth
mentioning also that Massud Barzani, the President of Iraqi Kurdistan, told
during the press conference after the battle for the city of Sinjar that it was
liberated with the blood of Kurds and that this city should become a part of
Kurdistan. Official Iraq that traditionally opposed the idea of incorporating
some of its northern territories into Kurdistan may not welcome this idea.
Later that day
many peshmerga fighters entered the city of Sinjar on feet and marched through
its streets, witnessing many destroyed houses including the government
headquarters, shops and petrol stations, according to the AFP correspondent at
the scene.
US air forces have carried out nearly 250 aerial
strikes against ISIS targets during the battle for Sinjar. Seizing of Sinjar
and cutting the important route for resupplies of ISIS could be a crucial moment
in fight against the group in the region.
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