ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—When militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked the Kurdish Peshmerga last week, on one front they came so close that General Najat Ali’s men had to fight them with hand-grenades and shoot them at close range.
“They (militants) used the fog and darkness to sneak up and be able to take our posts by using hand-grenades, but they couldn't take a single post,” said Gen. Ali, commander of the Makhmour front. “They had also kept some forces in the rear to come and control the roads if the attack was successful, but all their plans failed.”
Gen. Ali commands a 40-kilometer frontline which was attacked by ISIS militants from end to end that day.
They killed nearly 50 militants in an almost hand-to-hand combat to the loss of three of their own Peshmerga.
“We know that we killed 50 of them, and 17 of them lay right there before our eyes,” said Gen. Ali “The rest fell behind the trench barriers and we haven’t tried to retrieve or count them.”
“We were 150 meters from the militants and we fought them at close range,” said the 45-year-old commander. “One of them was a suicide bomber who blew up as we shot him. We killed every single one of them who participated in the attack.”
In an offensive that lasted 24 hours ISIS attacked a dozen other Peshmerga bases miles away from Makhmour, but Gen. Ali says he knows why the militants assaulted his front in particular and what they were after.
“The militants brought for this attack were not local. They were from elsewhere and based on our intelligence they had promised the ISIS leadership in a meeting that they would control the small town of Qarach.” he explained.
ISIS militants briefly controlled the town of Makhmour, 40 kilometers south of the capital Erbil last year, before they were driven out by the Kurdish forces. However, the group doesn’t seem to have given up on this small farming town and has since launched one attack after another to retake it.
“The Makhmour front is strategically very important for the Peshmerga and ISIS alike because it lies on a triangle between Kirkuk, Erbil and Nineveh,” said Gen. Ali. “There is also the Qarachugh mountain range which would give total control of the area to whoever holds it.”
He believes that the radical militants have started employing new tactics in their fight now that they have lost the ability to launch full frontal attacks like their blitzkrieg of last year.
“One of their tactics was to lay ambush between the Kurdish forces so that they couldn’t rush to each other's assistance,” said Gen. Ali of last week’s surprise attack. “They wanted to cut off our forces from one another.”
The guns under Gen. Ali’s command have seldom been silent in the last year and a half. He has repelled waves of ISIS attacks and probably more militants lay dead before his trenches than in most places.
The daily fight, he believes, has given the Peshmerga the experience they need to face off this ruthless enemy.
“This is my military assessment,” he said in calm and calculated words. “The Peshmerga have gained good experience from fighting ISIS and if they are equipped with better arms, better technology and training, I believe, we can deal ISIS a fatal blow.”
Since August last year when ISIS militants overran Makhmour—the very town Gen. Ali defends today—US and coalition fighter jets have been supporting the Peshmerga, but he believes that it is time they changed their rules of engagement if they wanted to cripple the group.
“The coalition fighter jets are very essential and have been of great support to the Peshmerga, but their main focus is the frontline and they do not attack ISIS deep inside its territory,” he complained. “The militants often lay down their weapons and move around in civilian clothes. The jets do not strike them unless they see them carrying arms.”
Gen. Ali wondered why Gayara, Sharqat and Zab—three ISIS bases not far from the Peshmerga defense lines—are not bombed by the jets.
“The fighter jets do not attack them in their bases,” he said. “ISIS is attacked only on the frontline, but in areas where they have bunkers close to the Peshmerga lines they are well hidden and well-fortified. They have a lot of activities in the rear and less near the fronts.”
Gen. Ali has a better understanding of and grapples daily with the ISIS threat the world speaks about these days.
“This is no longer a local war,” he warned. “It is not even a regional war anymore. It has crossed all borders and become a global war. Therefore the allies, especially the US should give us better assistance.”
“The militants we kill all carry new weapons, new binoculars and before we fire at them a mortar shell they fire four at us,” he revealed. “Even their bullets are brand new.”
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