ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Thousands of Peshmerga troops have launched an operation to control the Kanhish heights around the town of Gwer. Kurdish President Masoud Barzani is supervising the offensive against the Islamic State (ISIS).

Peshmerga troops from the Makhmour and Khazir fronts have joined forces for the operation.

On the Khazir front the offensive started at the village of Wardak with Peshmerga artillery pounding ISIS positions on the ground and coalition jets targeting the group’s bases and vehicles from the air.

The target of the operation is to retake control of several Kurdish and Arab villages from ISIS.

Peshmerga officials told Rudaw that the area is of great military importance as its swamps and bogs have for the past two years provided ideal hiding places for the radical militants.

They have used the area’s rough terrain to bomb and attack Peshmerga bases.

Officials say that by removing ISIS from this area in today’s operation the threat on the villages of Sofia, Khalindin, Gameshtapa, Hawera, Kapran as well as the main roads to Erbil and Gwer will end.

The operation will also bring the Kurdish and coalition forces closer to the ISIS-controlled Hamam Ali and its oil wells.

Today’s operation which is one of many in the last few months on both fronts, will shrink the ISIS territory and bring the group’s stronghold of Mosul within range of Peshmerga artillery to less than 20 kilometers.