New Iraq borders take shape as Kurds capture territory

Construction began in 2014, when this marked the front line between U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, known as the peshmerga, and the Islamic State group, which had swept across northern Iraq that summer, routing the army and threatening the Kurdish autonomous region.



[...] a more permanent boundary has taken shape as Kurdish aspirations for outright independence have grown.

[...] with the aid of U.S.-led air strikes, the Kurds have taken territory equivalent to 50 percent of their recognized autonomous region.