Islamic State Opens New Supply Route Between Syria and Iraq.

Islamic State Opens New Supply Route Between Syria and Iraq.(voanews).

Islamic State (IS) militants have been using a new route between Syria and Iraq to ferry supplies since Iraqi Kurdish forces cut off one of IS' crucial links in northern Iraq last month.

VOA Kurdish correspondent Kawa Omar reports that IS militants are using civilian vehicles to move supplies between Raqqa and Mosul. The informal route starts from the small town of Ba’aj, south of Mosul, and continues to the town of Qirwan close to the border with Syria.

“We had information that [IS] was working on the construction of a route in south Mosul eight months before the Sinjar operation started,” Haider Shasho, a leading Yazidi commander in Sinjar, told VOA.

Shasho expressed concerns about the free movement of the IS fighters along the route.

“IS fighters are moving everything through the route from military supplies to food and fuel,” Shasho said. “I can say that more than 80 percent of the people crossing the Ba’aj border to Syria are [IS] fighters while the rest can be considered civilians empathizing with [IS].” Read the full story here.