Iraqi Kurd Chief Says Sinjar Taken from Islamic State

AS IT IS 2015-11-14 Iraqi Kurd Chief Says Sinjar Taken from Islamic State

Kurdish fighters supported by American airstrikes have recaptured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar from Islamic State militants².

Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani made the announcement Friday.

The U.S.-backed coalition³ had not yet discussed the operation. But witnesses told the Associated Press that Kurdish forces, also known as Peshmerga fighters, were in control of the center of Sinjar.

The battle to retake the town started on Thursday after more than one week of daily airstrikes by the U.S.

The Islamic State group had captured the town of mostly ethnic⁴ Yazidis from Iraqi government forces last year. The group’s attack on the Yazidi minority led to the first of more than 5,000 U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State.

On Thursday, Kurdish officials said the Peshmerga fighters controlled villages on either side of Sinjar and the important Highway 47 between Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. The Islamic State (IS) group uses the highway to transport weapons, supplies and illicit⁵ oil to fund its operations.

Colonel Christopher Garver is a spokesman for the U.S. Combined Joint⁶ Task Force against the Islamic State. He said that the operation would disrupt “funding for [IS] operations, stem the flow of its fighters into Iraq and further isolate⁷ Mosul from Raqqa.”

About 7,500 fighters took part in the battle to retake Sinjar. A military advisor⁸ to the Kurdish prime minister’s office said local residents have joined the fight. They want to establish a safe area to protect civilians⁹.

Progress in the fight against the Islamic State militant¹

Jan Kubis is the top UN official in Iraq. Earlier on Wednesday, he told the UN Security Council that Iraqi forces and Shi’ite militias¹⁰ have made some progress in the fight against the militant group. He said, “The pro-government forces have proven their ability to conduct military operations in several areas simultaneously¹¹.”

The UN envoy¹² believed that “morale of the fighting forces is high, on the side of the government, and they are able now to register successes.” He added that more operations are planned in Anbar province.

He warned, however, that the militant group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is far from defeated. “ISIL continues to possess the funding and military capacities to prolong its reign¹³ of terror over large swaths of Iraq,” he said.

James Denselow is with the London-based Foreign Policy Center. He said, “What we see is a slow, painful but incremental¹⁴ progress pushing back [Islamic State].”

Some former military officials doubt the latest offensive will damage the Islamic State’s operations.

Former U.S. Navy commander Christopher Harmer is a naval¹⁵ expert at the Institute of the Study of War. He warns that the Islamic state is “retrenching” after spreading its forces too thinly by expanding into Yazidi and Kurdish territory.

Harmer said, “When they lose peripheral¹⁶ territory, like Sinjar, or Kobani, or even Hasakah, that is important but does not reduce the ability of ISIS to function as a significant destabilizing force in Syria or Iraq.”

Life under Islamic State rule

The Islamic State began its offensive in Iraq last year. The group seized at least one third of the country. More than three million civilians were displaced.

Thousands of Iraqis and Syrians are seeking safety by making the dangerous trip to Europe over land or by sea.

The latest UN report on Iraq expressed concern about the militants’ abuses of civilians. These include killings¹⁷, kidnappings, rape¹⁸, torture, forced recruitment of children and looting. The group is also believed to hold captive about 1,500 women and children from the minority Yazidi community.

The UN says more than 8.6 million people need urgent humanitarian¹⁹ assistance.

Words in This Story

Illicit –adj. something not allowed by law

Disrupt –v. to interfere²⁰ with something

Simultaneously –adv. taking place at the same time as something else

reign of terror –n. a period when a person or group commits violent acts against many people and causes widespread fear

swaths –n. a long wide strip of land

incremental –adj. change taking place in small steps over time

peripheral –adj. at the edges of something, not in the center

destabilizing –adj. causing to be unable to work in the usual or desired way

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 illicit   

adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。

6 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

7 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。

8 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

9 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

10 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

11 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

12 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

13 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

14 incremental   

adj.增加的

参考例句：

• For logic devices, the incremental current gain is very important. 对于逻辑器件来说，提高电流增益是非常重要的。 来自辞典例句
• By using an incremental approach, the problems involving material or geometric nonlinearity have been solved. 借应用一种增量方法，已经解决了包括材料的或几何的非线性问题。 来自辞典例句

15 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

16 peripheral   

adj.周边的，外围的

参考例句：

• We dealt with the peripheral aspects of a cost reduction program.我们谈到了降低成本计划的一些外围问题。
• The hotel provides the clerk the service and the peripheral traveling consultation.旅舍提供票务服务和周边旅游咨询。

17 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

18 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

19 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

20 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。