kind of kurd is doing the fighting. the peshmerga from the kurdish regional government up in northern iraq, very clear they re leading this operation. we saw the occasional sign of all the kurdish groups somewhere in the area but not in evidence at all frankly. this was a peshmerga operation. it was always thought to be one. the americans who are clearly in the skies but according to them today when you talk to them on the ground, perhaps other western militaries too, advising this operation. they seem to be comfortable with the peshmerga because of their organization you get from them and certainly their ability to deliver on fielding large numbers of troops. enormous columns we saw piling down these main roads. not an unstoppable force but one that s pretty hard to argue with. clearly, the americans are comfortable with working alongside them and perhaps this, i think, is aimed at building some sense of momentum to perhaps ensure a quick victory in sinjar because raqqah and mosul, th
far west of that sinjar town. a lot of damage, it seems, done in that particular direction. the peshmerga able to advance to west today and some to the east as well, largely because of the coalition, dozens of air strikes we saw overnight, lighting up the sky. dozens in the days beforehand. the question is, now they seem to have pushed isis back to the small urban center of sinjar. how long a fight will isis put up? are we in for hours, days of, brutal urban fighting or might they melt away? an important question because they need that road cleared to be able to ensure they ve blocked isis from communicating between mosul and rp aaqqah, wo we know these kurdish fighters are leading the battle but any sign they re getting support on the ground from the iraqi military? this is, after all, iraq. no iraqi support we could see. this issue is really about what
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training, and better air support. i think we re on the vernal of seeing the syrian portion turn around. part of the few soifs the aat the time by tradition, using these forces to retake the town of sip jar. why is that so important? if you look at the map, this area from mosul over to raqqah are pretty much on the same line. that area is how the isis has been moving back and forth. and that s how they came into iraq in the beginning when they were able to take mosul. if we re able to interrupt that supply line, retake sinjar, and then move further to the west, you know, i think we ve got a chance of stopping isis from gaining any more territory. okay. so the u.s.-led coalition has also been increasing the air strikes in the last couple of days. so how effective are these air strikes in providing support for the ground forces? and we know, because we talked yesterday about how the air strikes and the new round of