Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday ordered the airforce to provide support to Kurdish Peshmerga forces battling jihadists in the north of the country, army spokesman Qassem Atta said.
“The commander in chief of the armed forces has issued orders to the leadership of the airforce and the army’s aviation units to provide air support to Peshmerge forces,” he said in a statement.
ISIS seized the large Kurdish town of Shingal (Sinjar in Arabic) on Sunday, as well as two others in the same area. It took the town of Zumar the previous day and is now threatening Mosul dam, the country’s largest.
The latest fighting in Nineveh province means that the Peshmerge have largely pulled back to the old borders of Kurdistan autonomous region.