Iraqi Kurdish fighters, supported by US-led coalition planes, launched an assault at dawn in an attempt to resume the strategic city of Sinjar, which the Islamic state invaded last year.
About 7500 peshmerga fighters are attacking the city from three different locations. If they conquered the city, they would cut a fundamental strategic supply route used by terrorists.
Right at this stage, work is underway to establish a buffer zone in view of an impending heavy allied artillery attack. The main objective of the entire offensive is to cut the supply lines used by ISIS in the "Highway 47", which passes from Sinjar and indirectly connects two large strongholds: Raqqa, in Syria and Mosul in northern Iraq.
(in the photo US soldiers in the streets of Sinjar in the 2010 - source: US Army)
