Hundreds of heavily-armed ISIS militants launched a 17-hour assault on Kurdish forces in Iraq, said Gen. Mark Odom, the most senior coalition officer in the area.
U.S.-led airstrikes helped stop the coordinated attack, which involved assaults on peshmerga forces in three locations to the north and east of the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, Odom said, NBC News reported.
Between 80 and 120 ISIS fighters took part in each assault, using vehicles with machine guns, truck bombs and suicide bombers.
The Pentagon press corps traveling to the region with Defense Secretary Ash Carter Carter was briefed overnight on the operation.
