MOUNT SINJAR, Iraq — Backed by a barrage of U.S.-led airstrikes, Kurdish forces on Thursday encircled Islamic State militants in Sinjar, a town that sits astride a key supply route to Syria and whose fall could presage a later assault on the extremist group’s major Iraqi stronghold, Mosul.
The three-pronged attack on Sinjar involved some 7,500 Kurdish peshmerga fighters, including thousands of minority Yazidis battling to retake their homes. (READ MORE)
