US troops arrive on Mount Shingal to set up military base: Deputy Mayor

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – US forces have reached the top of Mount Sinjar (Shingal) to establish a new a military base, a Kurdish Ezidi official said on Friday.

“Today, 15 military vehicles of US troops arrived on top of Mount Shingal and stationed themselves near Mira peak on the mountain,” Jalal Khalo, deputy mayor in Shingal, told Kurdistan 24.

The US forces are preparing to build a military base on the mountain, Khalo added.

Mount Shingal is one of the most strategic locations in Iraq, lying near the border of Syria and 125 km west of Mosul.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces, supported by US-led coalition warplanes, liberated Shingal in mid-November 2015 after being occupied by the Islamic State (IS) in their infamous takeover of August 2014.

In the past, the mountain was used by former dictator of Iraq Saddam Hussein to threaten Israel with long-range weaponry.

The following are some of the photos obtained by Kurdistan 24 showing US military vehicles arriving near Mount Shingal on Friday.

Editing by John J. Catherine