A lightning two-day attack by Kurdish peshmerga forces broke the siege of Mount Sinjar last night, opening a land corridor to thousands of Yazidi civilians stranded since Islamic State fighters encircled them four months ago.
The offensive was hailed by Masrour Barzani, the Kurdish regional government security chief, as the biggest operation of the war against Isis to date. Backed by coalition aircraft from ten nations,it drove the jihadists from 700 sq km in northwestern Iraq and marks a turn in the fortunes of the militants, who had enjoyed victories during the summer and autumn.
Jubilant peshmerga troops consolidated their grip on the battlefield yesterday amid a vista strewn with boobytraps, scattered groups of dead Isis fighters and destroyed buildings.
“We couldn’t have done any