Here is an overview of significant moments in the war against ISIS in 2016.
On January 5, several ISIS suicide bombers tried to infiltrate Peshmerga positions on the Bashik front, but were repelled by the Kurdish forces.
On January 9, coalition forces, marking the first use of the weapon, fired three katyusha missiles at ISIS positions in Makhmour.
On February 2, Peshmerga forces in coordination with Sunni Arab tribesmen and warplanes from the US-led coalition launched a massive assault on the militants in the village of Kudila, on the Makhmour front, liberating the area.
On February 17, ISIS used toxic gas against the Peshmerga in southern Makhmour, wounding three Kurdish soldiers.
On April 8, ISIS militants launched an assault on the Peshmerga and the Iraqi army’s sixth division in the villages of Karmrdi and Kharbardan, west of Kirkuk. The attack was repelled, resulting in the deaths of dozens of militants.
By the end of April, ISIS extremists had fired some 50 mortars loaded with chemical gas on Peshmerga bases in Khazir. A Peshmerga was killed in an ISIS attack on the Bashik front as the militants deployed chemical weapons.
In mid-May, the militants bombed the Peshmerga with heavy weapons, once again using chemical substances which wounded 17 Peshmerga.
On the 18th of the same month, tens of ISIS suicide bombers using explosive belts attacked the Peshmerga in Aski Mosul, northwestern Mosul. Eleven militants were killed before reaching the Peshmerga outposts in the battle that lasted for several hours. Three Peshmerga were wounded in the fight.
At the end of May, Peshmerga staged a massive assault on the jihadists on the Khazir front, liberating 9 Kurdish villages in a matter of 24 hours.
On July 15 near Daquq town, in southern Kirkuk, the radicals inflicted harm on the Peshmerga, killing three and wounding two Kurdish soldiers, but the attackers were eventually defeated.
On July 23, on the western Kirkuk front, a group ISIS militants surrendered to the Kurdish forces.
At the end of July, a Peshmerga commander and an officer were killed by ISIS bombings on the Khazir front.
On August 14, Peshmerga launched a multi-pronged assault on the Gwer-Makhmour fronts, liberating 12 villages and pushing the militants back from Kurdish controlled territories. The strategic Gwer bridge linking Erbil to Mosul was taken by the Peshmerga. This later helped military forces launching the final Mosul offensive using this road.
As many as 60 ISIS militants were gunned down by Peshmerga forces south of Shingal when the group attacked their positions in the region on August 16. A handful of Peshmerga were killed in the heavy confrontation.
On October 17, General Commander of the Iraqi armed forces and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the commencement of the Mosul liberation operation. The first phase of the assault began with Peshmerga forces liberating dozens of villages, towns and territories east and northeast of the city.
The Iraqi army has entered the city and the battle for Mosul is ongoing.
In 2016, 5,752 ISIS militants have been killed in Iraq and a larger number wounded.
More than 1,600 Peshmerga have been killed in two and a half years of war with ISIS.
