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SINJAR, Iraq, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Kurdish forces captured a strategic Iraqi highway on Thursday as part of the ongoing offensive to take the town of Sinjar back from the Islamic State with the help of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. The Islamic State's movement of fighters, fuel and supplies within its controlled territory will be damaged by their loss of control of the road, meaning the militants will need to resort to less-efficient smuggling routes.
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"We cut the road between Syria and Iraq three hours ago, at around [8 a.m.]," Moslum Shingal, a Kurdish rebel representative, told The New York Times.
At least five villages in the Sinjar district have been taken back and the Kurdish forces have Sinjar surrounded.
The offensive by Kurdish forces in northern Iraq to take back Sinjar, called Operation Free Sinjar, began at dawn with a series of airstrikes. Kurdish fighters estimate about 600 Islamic State fighters are within Sinjar, along with hundreds of landmines and other improvised explosive devices.
Kurds took control of part of Sinjar in an attack months ago. About 7,500 Kurdish fighters were expected to attack Sinjar from three sides to control supply routes before attempting to clear the city of IS fighters. Many of Sinjar's surrounding villages have already been retaken by Kurdish forces.
"Once they get into this town, it's going to be really slow going," retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona told CNN. "They're going to have to slog through this house by house, street by street. It's going to be very difficult."
Removing Sinjar from IS control would help divide IS territory by cutting off the Islamist group's supply line between its stronghold in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, and Raqqa, Syria.
Thousands of lightly-armed Yazidi are taking part in the offensive to retake Sinjar.
Thousands of Yazidi people died when Sinjar was captured by the Islamic State in August 2014. About 50,000 Yazidi, a religious minority considered infidels by IS, fled toward Mount Sinjar and became trapped.
Hundreds of Yazidi men were killed and thousands of Yazidi women and girls were captured and used as sex slaves. Although most Yazidis evacuated, thousands remain on the mountain.
The IS attack on Sinjar was a primary reason the United States began airstrikes against IS positions in Iraq over fears of potential genocide.
In Syria, a joint rebel force consisting of Sunni Arabs, Assyrians and Kurds recently announced it was launching an offensive to liberate portions of the country's northeastern al-Hasakah province from IS militants.
The group said it would not stop until the entire province was cleared of IS forces, and it referred to the offensive as "the first step of our military action within a plan of liberating the whole [of] Syria from the terrorist gangs."
