I had a great opportunity to visit the Kurdish forces on the front lines with Ahmed, the director of Metrography, Iraq's first photography agency. metrography.photoshelter.com
Kirkuk has been a major point of contention over the last few years because of it's role in the country's oil production. Between the city and the front line are Iraq's oil refineries. Everybody want to control this area. It is currently under the control of the Kurdish army, known as the Peshmerge.
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The trip started with a visit to the Peshmerge's General at the forward operating base, a former US Army base just South West of the city. The Map shows all the Kurdish forces along the river as well as some of the ISIS encampments. Most of the photos below were taken at the left most yellow marker and a little beyond.
The General gave us written permission to go wherever we wanted in the area.
This first Humvee has the Iraqi flag on the door; the one behind has the Kurdish flag. This lot is filled with vehicles captured and used by ISIS then recaptured by the Peshmerge when the city was taken back last year.
This war wagon is straight out of Mad Max. ISIS built several of these to break though barricades. This one had an M2 .50 cal machine gun mounted on top as well.
It's heavily armoured with two 1/2inch steel plates with a 6inch gap between them filled with dirt and sand. This particular vehicle took 13 RPGs to stop it.
One of my favorite photos in this collection.
This truck is so bare bones that even the engine block and cylinders are exposed just behind the dashboard.
Stateside, I've heard some uneducated opinions about the US's involvement by supplying weapons to ISIS. The truth is much more simple. We gave weapons to the Iraqi army. A good amount of these weapons were captured by ISIS after the Iraqi Army abandoned their posts.
A sign showing how to spot IEDs.
This River was the front line for several months. This bridge was a major skermish point. The new frontline is now 3-4 kilometers back.
Peshmerge soldiers fishing in the river that narrowly divided the fighters just a few months ago.
On the enemy's (former) banks of the river.
The encampment in the background is the current front line.
The front line
The real heros
No man's land
The tank crew
The remains of a tire after an airstrike.
