The Kurdish security forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes, regained control of territory in Iraq from Islamic State jihadists, including several villages and a strategic town on the border with Syria.
Various media reports revealed that on September 30 with the support of U.S.-led airstrikes, Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, liberated the vital border town of Rabia in northern Iraq after taking the villages of As-Saudiyah and Mahmudiyah from Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS and ISIL) militants.
The Iraqi Kurds were also able to retake the villages of Saad and Khaled around Daquq, a town south of the key oil city of Kirkuk.
A senior Peshmerga officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media, told AFP that on September 30 the Kurdish forces attacked ISIS on three fronts in northern Iraq.
The senior officer did not specifically say which countries were providing the Kurdish forces with air support.
However, a provincial security force, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, told China’s state-run news agency Xinhua that U.S.-led airstrikes aided the Kurds in their offensive against the Islamic State militants.
Various news reports mentioned U.S. air support as part of the Kurdish offensive against ISIS in northern Iraq. France and British military jets have also been flying in Iraq.
U.S. Central Command, in a September 30 statement, mentioned that the U.S. military conducted airstrikes in the Sinjar region on the Syrian side of the border, which would include the Iraqi border town of Rabia.
The U.S. military also revealed that it carried out airstrikes on the Iraqi side of the border in the same area.
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