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Recent gains in the campaign against the Islamic State may mark a turning point for the administration's strategy to defeat the terrorist group, which has taken a beating from his critics as being ineffective and too hands off, according to reports.

Kurdish forces aided by U.S. special operations troops launched an offensive Thursday to retake Mount Sinjar and cut off a key supply line the terrorist organization uses to funnel supplies and fighters from Raqqah in Syria to Mosul in Iraq.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters on Thursday that the coalition had conducted 36 airstrikes in support of the operation over the last 24 hours.

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