by MATT CETTI-ROBERTS

In the first 24 hours of the Kurds’ latest offensive there were 16 coalition air strikes. Peshmerga fighters attacked from positions near Mosul Dam, taking Islamic State by surprise and cutting their supply lines. Now the Kurds are close to the militants’ stronghold in the city of Mosul.

But why are the Peshmerga pushing now? The Iraqi Army is nowhere near ready to attack the city. U.S. military officials have already said that the Iraqi Army won’t be ready to take Mosul until at least spring.

Iraqi troops need more training and equipment—and they have a lot of ground to regain from which to launch an offensive into the city.

What’s more is that the Kurdish Regional Government has said it has little interest in Mosul.

I and a fellow journalist—a French reporter—went to the front line to investigate.

We visited Nawaran in the area near Shekhan. It’s a front-line position dug into a hillside. The day before our visit on Jan. 26, there was heavy fighting as militants attacked the Kurdish lines.

Although Islamic State has suffered major setbacks to the west of the Mosul Dam, the Shekhan counter-offensive scored some victories in Makhmur and Gwer. Two Peshmerga fighters died during the clashes—one of them a general named Harbo Ahmed.

The Kurds have some heavy weapons in the area—artillery, a tank or two and some armored personnel carriers.