SINJAR MOUNTAIN, Iraq– While the U.S. is claiming to be on the move against ISIS, the reality on the ground is that ISIS has brought in more than 100 vehicles as reinforcements in the Sinjar area alone, with an increase in heavy shelling by Islamic State on Sinjar Mountain.
According to eyewitnesses, the ISIS vehicles have been coming from the vicinity of Badj, Iraq. Many were reported to have arrived in Sinjar City on Wednesday evening, October 28.
ISIS currently controls 80-90% of Sinjar City, while Kurdish Peshmerga forces control between 10-20%.
Brett McGurk, Deputy Special Assistant Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, tweeted on November 2, “Last 24 hrs: 29 coalition strikes focusing on #Sinjar, #Ramadi, #Mar’a, in support of multiple ops against #ISIL.” The tweet links to a press release from the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, dated November 2, that elucidates the scale of the coalition strikes. It highlights, for example, this military event:
- Near Sinjar, five strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL vehicles, an ISIL mortar system, an ISIL weapons cache, and two ISIL fighting positions.
Given that ISIS has moved in more than 100 vehicles in the past week alone illustrates just how ineffective the U.S. effort is currently in diminishing their influence in the area.
See the recent exclusive interview with David Eubanks from the Free Burma Rangers, who was providing medical training to the Peshmerga and Yazidi internally displaced persons (IDPs) on Sinjar Mountain. During the interview, David describes the unimpeded flow of ISIS trucks, pointing the trucks out in real time.
Tera Dahl is the Executive Director of the Council on Global Security.