Kurdish commanders say ISIS fighters had threatened to overrun Kurdish defensive positions in the area for a while, and the two sides were so close that airstrikes were not possible.
But by 3 a.m. local time Wednesday, the Peshmerga had succeeded in forcing ISIS back, allowing airstrikes to begin.
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Kurdish forces recently have been trying to surround Mosul to cut off ISIS’ lines of supply from Syria, setting up what could be an eventual assault to try to expel the terror group from the city.
CNN’s Catherine E. Shoichet and Holly Yan contributed to this report.
