Thousands of Kurdish Peshmerga troops are involved in an offensive to regain formerly Kurdish villages near the ISIS-held town of Mosul, Kurdish officials say.
The
Peshmerga-led ground offensive, backed by international coalition air
support, was launched early Sunday to retake several villages near
Khazir, east of Mosul.
The operation includes approximately 5,500 Peshmerga fighters.
The move comes ahead of a joint offensive by Kurdish forces and Iraqi troops to retake Mosul, Kurdish media says.
Kurdish media outlet Rudaw reported
that the Peshmerga troops, accompanied by Zeravani Special Forces -- a
Kurdish paramilitary outfit -- picked their way across ISIS-held
territory, retaking abandoned villages it says were once populated by
Kurds.
"I
am very happy to help liberate these villages today, because they are
Kurds like us," First Lt. Hemin Rashid, a Zeravani Peshmerga fighter
from Halabja told the media outlet.
"After we liberate the village they can return and we will guard them too," he said.
Mortar fire and roadside bombs slowed the advance, Rudaw said.
"ISIS
is seeing our forces but we cannot see them because they hide inside
civilian homes and in tunnels," Zeravani spokesman Dilshad Mawlood said.
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