Posted on 08/22/2014 11:37:02 AM PDT by GonzoII
(CNN) -- Kurdish and Iraqi armed forces made gains against ISIS fighters in northeastern Iraq on Friday, taking back several villages as they surrounded the large ISIS-held town of Jalawla, a spokesman for Kurdish forces said.
And the U.S. military said its aircraft continued attacking ISIS forces Friday near Mosul Dam, where Iraqi forces are expanding control of the area after retaking the dam this month.
Those are some of the latest developments in the push by Iraqi and Kurdish forces -- in some cases boosted by U.S. air support and airstrikes since August 8 -- to push back the extremist Sunni Muslim militant group, which calls itself the Islamic State and controls large swaths of northern Iraq and eastern Syria.
....
Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, and Iraqi commandos inflicted heavy losses against ISIS on Friday as they took back a number of towns and villages around Jalawla in Diyala province, Pershmerga spokesman Brig. Gen. Halgord Hikmat told CNN.
Jalawla, a mostly Kurdish town of about 50,000 people roughly 70 miles northeast of Baghdad, was taken by ISIS earlier this year. Kurdish and Iraqi forces now surround it, Hikmat said.
ISIS, through one of its official Twitter accounts, said Friday that more than 50 of its fighters were killed while defending Jalwala "against the Peshmerga mercenaries."
A subsequent tweet said the group vowed revenge.
Hikmat said Peshmerga and Iraqi forces had U.S. air support, but did not elaborate.
In neighboring Salaheddin province, also north of Baghdad, Iraqi helicopters on Friday killed 30 ISIS fighters in the town of Dhuluiya, about 70 kilometers northeast of Baquba, Iraqi security officials told CNN.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
I love the Kurds!
NOTICE TO ALL FOREIGN CITIZENS!
IT’S TIME. JUST PRAY IT’S NOT TOO LATE!!
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=notice+to+all+foreign
These goons can be rolled. The Taliban have more terrorists (app. 20,000 vs. 15,000 for ISIL) and neither are that organized. Sharia law and the Koran are not sufficient organizing principals for a nation as PIAPS would put it.
ISIS is pulling forces back to Syria, safe from US warplanes, to make a push for the Mediterranean coast.
For how long I wonder?
bttt
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