Kurdish Peshmerga Fighters Wait for Mosul Battle

A Peshmerga commander walks along a wall of sandbags protecting the Iraqi Kurdish forces' last military base on the frontline with Islamic State in the Makhmour area of Iraq, March 8, 2016. (S. Behn/VOA)

A Peshmerga checkpoint on the road to the Kurdish Peshmerga's final military base before Islamic State-controlled territory begins in the Makhmour area of Iraq, southeast of Mosul, March 8, 2016. (S. Behn/VOA)

Peshmerga elder Omar Mirhan says this weapon was once given by the United States to the Iraqi Army, then captured by Islamic State, only to be won back by the Kurdish Peshmerga in the Makhmour area of Iraq, March 8, 2016. (S. Behn/VOA)

Elder Peshmerga fighter and now a volunteer, Omar Mirhan stands with his fellow Peshmerga on a hill overlooking the area of Makhmour which the Peshmerga won back from Islamic State in 2014, March 8, 2016. (S. Behn/VOA)

Born in 1938, elder Peshmerga fighter and now a volunteer, Omar Mirhan talks about the Kurdish fight for the Makhmour area, standing at a hill overlooking the town, March 8, 2016. (S. Behn/VOA)

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers huddle around Maj. Gen. Sirwan Barzani in Makhmour, Iraq. Makhmour is expected to serve as one of the staging points for Iraqi and Peshmerga forces in the advance against the Islamic State-controlled city of Mosul, March 8

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga Maj. Gen. Sirwan Barzani with his fellow commanders during a short visit to one of the posts set back from the Peshmerga frontline against Islamic State, March 8, 2016. (S. Behn/VOA)

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga standing near one of the their lookout posts that straddles the frontline against the Islamic State in the area of Makhmour. Makhmour is expected to be one of the staging points for Iraqi and Peshmerga forces to advance on the IS-c

A small Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga outlook fortified with sandbags sits atop a hill overlooking the Makhmour, an area once controlled by Islamic State but now under Kurdish control, March 8, 2016. (S. Behn/VOA)

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga manning the last Peshmerga base in Makhmour on the frontline against Islamic State. Commanders say IS militants attack the frontline daily with mortars and rockets, March 8, 2016. (S. Behn/VOA)

Machine gun and bullets are at the ready at the final Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga base in Makhmour on the frontline against Islamic State, March 8, 2016. (S. Behn/VOA)

Bullets lined up in the gap between sandbags forming a wall protecting the Iraqi Kurdish forces' last military base on the frontline with Islamic State in the Makhmour area of Iraq, March 8, 2016. (S. Behn/VOA)