A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter looks down on ISIS-controlled territory near Mosul in 2014. Peshmerga forces this week repelled a new offensive in the same area.
A major new offensive by ISIS forces in Iraq has been repulsed by Kurdish forces, with the support of international airstrikes.
The attack was one of the largest attacks by ISIS in the last five months, says the US government.
The attack focused on areas north of the city of Mosul on Wednesday, an area currently under the control of Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
According to the BBC’s Murad Shishani, the offensive may have been motivated by a need to create a wider area of control, where ISIS can seek shelter from airstrikes. “They are using hit-and-run tactics — and they are concentrating on certain areas to find themselves more space to run from airstrikes."
The ISIS assault used a mix of conventional military hardware, such as rockets and machine guns, alongside the improvised insurgency weapons that ISIS has made its speciality. Kurdish positions reported being attacked with car bombs and even armored bulldozers. One US military spokesman told the Washington Post that the attack was the "hardest punch [ISIS] had thrown since this summer."
Shishani says he has noticed an evolution in ISIS strategy since the start of international airstrikes. ISIS forces are now less likely to engage in sustained frontal assaults against their opponents, and are more likely to use guerrilla tactics to draw the enemy.
“They don’t want an open battle with Kurds, because they know they will be exhausted. So that’s why they have resorted to hit-and-run to keep [Peshmerga forces] busy.”