Iraqi Kurds Backed by U.S. Strikes in Offensive to Retake Sinjar
- `Major operation' aims to clear Islamic State from city
- Sinjar home to Yezidi minority targeted by the jihadists
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Kurdish fighters backed by Iraqi security forces and U.S.-led airstrikes began a major offensive to push Islamic State militants from Sinjar, a northern Iraqi city near the Syrian border captured by the jihadist group last year.
About 7,500 peshmerga are amassing on three fronts to cordon off Sinjar and establish a buffer zone to protect the city from artillery, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said Thursday. They’re also trying to clear portions of an east-west highway used by the group to funnel equipment and fighters from Syria into Mosul, a key Iraqi city controlled by Islamic State since last summer.