Islamic State 'Could Be Defeated In Months'

A commander in the elite Zerevani unit of the Peshmerga has told Sky News that Islamic State is suffering considerable setbacks on multiple fronts and can be defeated before the end of the year - if there is a concerted military push across Iraq and Syria.

The Peshmerga - a military force of Iraqi Kurds - has launched a significant operation over the last few days.

It has seen them retake a number of important villages on the Nineveh Plain around the IS stronghold of Mosul.

Sky News is embedded with the Peshmerga and watched as thousands of their fighters moved forward into enemy territory.

:: Iraqi Forces Repel Six IS Car Bombs In Fallujah

Smoke and flames could be seen rising from the first villages to be liberated after they were pounded by coalition airstrikes and rocket fire.

IS responded with mortars and by sending suicide bombers in vehicles to try and thwart the assault.

But the Peshmerga, who were assisted by Special Forces from Canada, the UK and the US, managed to destroy them before they reached their advancing lines.

In one incident - filmed by the TV channel Kurdistan24 - a correspondent is filmed reporting from the frontline as a suicide bomber detonates a device in the background.

Debris is blown hundreds of feet into the sky.

The Peshmerga is a capable ally of the West in a fight where local boots are needed on the ground.

But although the Zerevani brigade is an elite fighting unit, its equipment is basic.

General Salar Taymour told me IS can be defeated over the next few months but the Peshmerga need more help against a determined enemy.

:: Special Report - Battling Against Islamic State's Guerrilla Tactics

"ISIS' power relies on car bombs, IEDs and suicide bombers," he said.

"Their strategy is to brainwash their fighters to make them think they'll go to heaven. But we are not frightened by them anymore; they can be stopped."

But IS also has strength as a conventional force. Its fighters have captured huge amounts of weaponry from the Iraqi army.

As we waited on the front lines to move forward, mortars exploded near us, as the Peshmerga came under a counter-attack.

The first casualties soon arrived by ambulance as IS' snipers found their range.

One doctor showed us a bullet he had pulled from the leg of a fighter.

The successful offensive was the first serious attempt to drive IS out by the Peshmerga since the villages were taken in 2014.

IS positions were crushed by punishing airstrikes and coordinated Peshmerga attacks on the ground.

But liberating the IS stronghold of Mosul will be much harder.

Unlike the deserted villages, which were abandoned by the residents when IS moved in, it is a well-defended city with hundreds of thousands of civilians who can be used as human shields.