BAGHDAD — Backed by U.S. airstrikes, Iraqi forces launched a ground offensive Sunday to retake control of the country’s biggest dam, as militants from the Islamic State are forced on the defensive.
Iraqi counterterrorism forces joined Kurdish troops in the counterattack on Mosul Dam, which was seized by Islamic State fighters 10 days earlier, Kurdish officials said. U.S. Central Command said its jet fighters and drones conducted airstrikes near the dam Saturday night.
Brig. Gen. Abdulwahab al-Saidi, a commander with the Iraqi counterterrorism forces, said 80 percent of the dam — the northern and eastern side — had been retaken Sunday. He said counterterrorism forces were leading the operation as the Iraqi and U.S. air forces provided cover for them to move forward.
Iraqi SWAT teams also were involved, Saidi said.
The pressure on Kurdish forces over the past two weeks has ushered unprecedented military cooperation with Baghdad in the face of a common enemy. While the advance of Islamic State militants exposed the weakness of the Iraqi army, U.S.-trained counterterrorism forces have held out at key strategic points such as the Baiji oil refinery despite coming under regular attack.
A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that both Iraqi counterterrorism forces and Kurdish troops, known as the pesh merga, were involved in the operation.
“It’s slow going because there are a lot of IEDs,” he said, referring to roadside bombs. “But they have made significant progress.”
Brig. Gen. Azad Jalil, a pesh merga commander based near Mosul, also confirmed that the ground offensive had begun.
“The attack has started from the eastern side of the dam,” said Mahmood Haji, an official with the Kurdish Interior Ministry, adding that the nearby villages of Telskuf and Batnaya were back under Kurdish control.
The hydroelectric dam straddling the Tigris River is of major strategic importance to the militants trying to carve a state in the country’s northwest and supply power to many of the areas they control. But its capture by Islamic State earlier this month also raised fears that the dam could be used as a weapon because a breach would unleash catastrophic flooding.
Kurdish forces have gone on the offensive since U.S. airstrikes began in the area on Aug. 8, after a rout of their forces, including at the dam. However, they have still struggled to maintain control of the more than 600-mile border they share with the extremists, with Islamic State seizing Jalula from Kurdish forces last week.
U.S. jets and drones carried out nine airstrikes near the dam and the Kurdish city of Irbil on Saturday night, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The strikes destroyed or damaged four armored personnel carriers, seven armed vehicles, two Humvees and an armored vehicle, it said.
Loveday Morris is a Beirut-based correspondent for The Post. She has previously covered the Middle East for The National, based in Abu Dhabi, and for the Independent, based in London and Beirut.
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