On a hillside in northern Kurdistan, peshmerga soldiers load bullets into magazines. A Dutch commander from the coalition forces watches as the peshmerga perform drills — from combat medical procedures and urban warfare training to live fire field exercises.
While the bombardment by US and allied forces have helped the Iraqi and Kurdish forces regain territory controlled by the Islamic State (IS), ground support is needed to gain control of territories such as Mosul, Salahuddin, Anbar and Diyala. In an effort to scale up the offensive, the peshmerga are receiving rigorous training from coalition military advisers. Troops from the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy have devoted four weeks to training and advising a special platoon of the peshmerga fighters.