CNN | KPLCTV
September 17, 2014
HASAN SHAM, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— Airstrikes are proving critical in helping Kurdish Peshmerga forces take back territory from ISIS.
Intense battles took place on Tuesday between Erbil and Mosul in northern Iraq.
As the first rays of sunlight streamed through the clouds, the roar of U.S. fighter jets could be heard right across these desolate plains.
The roar was the signal for the Peshmerga to launch their new offensive against ISIS.
The mission: To reclaim the township of Hasan Sham and the surrounding area which includes a strategic bridge, blown up by ISIS a month ago.
The bridge connects the highway running from Erbil, Kurdistan’s capital to the city of Mosul, an ISIS stronghold just 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) away.
For more than an hour two U.S. fighter jets have been circling, launching airstrikes on enemy targets. Also providing that critical cover for these ground forces to advance toward the bridge.
For the man in charge of these troops and this operation, Dr. Roj Nuri Shawys, he is the one communicating and coordinating with the Americans, advising them on ISIS targets.
When asked what he is wanting the pilots to hit, he has a definite answer.
“To hit hummers or positions where they are fighting very strongly, difficult for the Peshmerga to get in,” he said.
And so far the partnership is working well although the Kurdish forces have made no secret of the fact they would like to see an intensification of the U.S. air campaign.
After hours of strikes, artillery and mortar attacks, the horizon was filled with columns of rising black smoke.
Luckily it was taken out with an RPG, or rocket-propelled grenade, resulting in this explosion.
By late in the day, the Peshmerga had suffered at least half a dozen deaths but they had taken back control of the bridge.
As of Tuesday morning, there was an ISIS frontline but after an intensive ground operation by the Peshmerga they have managed to clear out Hasan Sham and the surrounding
villages of militants. The focus now is a highway, which runs all the way to Mosul and an operation is underway to slowly and carefully remove what the Peshmerga describe as barrels filled with explosives and IEDs laid alongside the road.
As the engineering unit began detonating the explosives, soldiers showed some ISIS handiwork.
ISIS is laying on the side of the road a primitive pressure plate. If you stand on it, it will set off an explosive.
A deadly device that will no doubt litter the road all the way to Mosul, a future battle the Kurdish forces know won’t be easily won.