Rudaw.
A year ago, the furious ISIS attack managed to get as close as 27 km to Erbil with the extremists capturing the Gwer district and its surrounding villages. It was a tense time for Kurds and the Kurdish Yezidi under attack to north at Mt Shingal.
One year later, however, and Peshmerga commanders are reporting a tense calm as ISIS has been pushed back in many areas surrounding the capital of the Kurdistan region.
"There is a difference between the ISIS assault in the beginning and the Peshmrga's current position. At first, we did not have enough skill to fight off the barbaric assaults of ISIS. [But] after a year, the Peshmerga have gained very good experience so that now none of their assaults can win their objectives," a Peshmerga commander told Rudaw.
Even so, the fragile stalemate could be shattered at any time and the jihadists still hold the cities of Mosul and Hawija to the north and south of Erbil.
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