losing 14 Peshmerga fighters. 2–3 August Sunday 3 August, ISIL, with heavy weaponry seized from the Iraqi federal army, in the darkness of morning seized first the town of Zumar and then Sinjar (90 km southwest of Zumar), and the surrounding Sinjar area. ISIL routed from those towns the Kurdish peshmerga troops that since June more or less controlled the region. A spokesman of citizens who fled from Sinjar said, that 250 peshmerga in Sinjar had withdrawn from Sinjar in the night, leaving the civilians unprotected. ISIL on 3 August also took control of the oil facility in the Zumar subdistrict. Later that day, ISIL also captured the town of Wana between Zumar and Mosul. There were conflicting reports about whether the Mosul Dam was still in Kurdish hands or captured by ISIL. 4 August ISIL surrounded the village of Kocho near the Sinjar Mountains, demanding its Yazidi residents to convert or die. 6 August ISIL on 6 August advanced up to 40 km southwest of Erbil, the capital of autonomous region Kurdistan Region. 7 August On 7 August, ISIL took control of Qaraqosh (or Bakhdida), the largest Christian town of Iraq, 30 km southeast of Mosul and 60 km west of Erbil, Karamlish, 5 km from Qaraqosh, Tal Keif (Tel Keppe), Batnaya, just north of Mosul, and Bartella, just east of Mosul. Kurdish forces had retreated from Qaraqosh and surrounding area, which caused civilians to flee in panic. The Chaldaic archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah, Joseph Thomas, stated that "all inhabitants" of those four cities were fleeing their town. ISIL also captured the strategic town of Makhmour, between Mosul and Kirkuk, 20 miles from Erbil. There were conflicting remarks—in one newspaper—as to whether ISIL had 'seized' the Mosul Dam or was making 'efforts to seize' it. That week, ISIL also overran other towns in northwest Iraq, chasing Kurdish Peshmerga troops away. At this time, the U.S. started airdropping food and water for the Yazidi refugees stranded in the Sinjar Mountains. 8–9 August On 8 August, the U.S. started to conduct airstrikes on ISIL, first west of Erbil to stop ISIL's advance on the city. Starting on 9 August, airstrikes also took place around the Sinjar Mountains. By this time, ISIL had also seized the Mosul Dam, 40 km northwest of Mosul on the Tigris river. Iraqi/Kurdish/US counter-attack U.S intervention On 5 August, the United States began with directly supplying