Iraq: Peshmerga forces take control of Sinjar

MOSUL, Iraq

Masoud Barzani, president of Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), announced Friday the takeover of Sinjar district from Daesh.

Speaking to the media, Barzani said the ground offensive was carried out only by Peshmerga forces.

Meanwhile, KRG Premier Nechirvan Barzani expressed his “utmost appreciation for the government and the people of the United States for their vital support to the Peshmerga during the Sinjar liberation operation.”

In Washington, the State Department said that logistical support for anti-Daesh forces in the area would continue in the mountainous region, which spokesman Mark Toner described as a "vital supply line" for the extremist group.

"It's key to disrupt the logistics that ISIL has been counting on. It's a logistical route, as well as line of communication for Daesh," Toner told reporters. "I don't think the fight is necessarily over, but they have made tremendous progress in the last forty-eight hours."

Daesh has used the region to link Raqqa, its de facto capital in Syria, with Iraq's second city, Mosul, which the militants seized from the Iraqi government in June 2014.

Earlier on Friday, Peshmerga sources told Anadolu Agency that the forces took full control of public institutions in Sinjar.

On Thursday, the Kurdish forces had launched an extensive military operation against Daesh in the Ezidi Kurdish-majority district.

Officials said approximately 7,500 Peshmerga forces participated in the operation, with air support provided by the U.S.-led international coalition.

Sinjar is a town located 120 kilometers west of Mosul with an Ezidi Kurdish majority. It fell to Daesh in August 2014.

Thousands of Ezidis were forced to flee their homes to the nearby Mount Sinjar where they had been besieged by the militant group before the Peshmerga forces saved them.