Kurdish forces have taken control of most of Iraq’s largest dam after battling Islamic State fighters in nearby villages, reversing some of gains made by the insurgents in the north with US military support.
The forces, also known as the peshmerga, will have full control of the Mosul Dam in "just a matter of time," said Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff for Kurdish Regional Government's president, Massoud Barzani. Kurdish forces were dismantling bombs placed near the main gates of dam, he said.
Nineveh provincial council member Hisham al-Brefkani also said the peshmerga controlled the dam except for “some pockets”.
Kurdish fighters, along with regular Iraqi forces and US fighter aircraft, are seeking to rein in the Sunni insurgents who have rampaged through Opec’s number-two oil producer, seizing border posts, beheading foes and targeting dams.
The advance on the dam comes a day after the US expanded the reach of its air strikes to areas near Mosul, Iraq’s largest northern city, to help wrest control of the dam seized this month by Islamic State fighters.
“There was no fierce fighting” involved in the push to control the dam, said Mr al-Brefkani.
The dam is the most important asset the Islamic State captured since taking Nineveh province in June. The militants also control several oil and gas fields in western Iraq and eastern Syria, generating revenue to help fund the caliphate it announced and strengthen its grip on territory it has seized.
The US destroyed 10 armed vehicles, seven Humvees, two armoured personnel carriers and one checkpoint in 14 air strikes yesterday near the dam to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces, the US central command in Tampa, Florida, said.
The US conducted at least nine air strikes yesterday near the dam, the central command said. The combination of navy F18 and air force F16 fighters, along with the drones, marked the largest deployment of US aircraft since the strikes began on August 8th, a US defence official said.
"The US must hit critical equipment and economic assets to weaken the Islamic State's grip on territory," said Theodore Karasik of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai. – (Bloomberg)