they battle to take sinjar, a strategic town near the syrian border. take a look at the map. you can see this is the red area we're referring to sinjar mountain that would cut off the supply line between the isis stronghold mosul and the defacto capital in syria that is raqqa. but just as important as dividing the call fate is saving the thousands of religious minorities who live there. and it was sinjar, you remember this. . cnn witnessed the desperate and terrified people on the verge of slaughter. they were trap ped. these families trapped on this mountain top scrambling on to this military chopper to escape the terrorists and likely death or a life sold into sex slavery. our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh is near the front lines of this battle and joins me now. nick, talk to me. a little bit about the resistance the peshmerga are