After 2-week struggle, U.S.-backed fighters reclaim Iraq’s largest dam

Iraqi Kurdish fighters backed by U.S. warplanes retook the country’s largest dam from jihadists on Sunday, as Sunni Arab tribesmen and security forces fought the militants west of Baghdad. The recapture of Mosul Dam marks the biggest prize yet clawed back from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists since they launched a major offensive in northern Iraq in early June, sweeping Iraqi security forces aside.

Mosul Dam was liberated completely.

Ali Awni, an official from Iraq’s main Kurdish party

The latest round of U.S. airstrikes in Iraq against the self-proclaimed Islamic State includes the first reported use of land-based bombers in the military campaign. U.S. Central Command says a combination of bombers, fighter jets, attack planes and unmanned drones hit targets near Iraq’s largest dam in Mosul. That’s a wider array than in previous rounds of airstrikes.