Kurdish forces said they have broken Islamic State's siege of Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq, where thousands of Yazidis have been trapped for several months.
"The peshmerga have managed to reach the mountain. A vast area has been liberated," said Masrour Barzani, head of the Iraqi Kurdish region's national security council.
"Now a corridor is open and hopefully the rest of the (Sinjar) region will be freed from Islamic State."
The Yazidi group has been stranded on Mount Sinjar near Mosul in northern Iraq since August after fleeing the Islamic militants.
Kurdistan NSC confirms path cleared to Jabal Sinjar. 8,000 Pesh involved, ISIS routed. Coalition air support provided.— Patrick Osgood (@PatrickOsgood) December 18, 2014
Probably the best day in action for Peshmerga since August. Significant victory over large swath of territory.— Patrick Osgood (@PatrickOsgood) December 18, 2014
This video from the Kurdish new organisation Bas News shows what is described as fighting in Sinjar.
On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that since November coalition airstrikes have killed a number of senior and mid-level Islamic State leaders.
"We believe that the loss of these key leaders degrades ISIL's ability to command and control current operations against Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), including Kurdish and other local forces in Iraq," the statement says.