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Published December 19, 2014

U.S. airstrikes have killed several top Islamic State leaders in Iraq in recent weeks, limiting the terrorist army's ability to fight Iraqi and Kurdish forces, Pentagon officials said.

Three top Islamic State leaders were killed in recent weeks, including multiple senior and mid-level leaders, said Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby. One of the leaders killed was Haji Mutazz, a deputy toAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the terror group, officials said.

"We believe that the loss of these key leaders degrades ISIL's ability to command and control current operations against Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), including Kurdish and other local forces in Iraq," Kirby said. "While we do not discuss the intelligence and targeting details of our operations, it is important to note that leadership, command and control nodes, facilities, and equipment are always part of our targeting calculus."

Earlier, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told The Wall Street Journal those killed included key players in the jihadist army that has carved out a vast swath of territory in Iraq and Syria.

It is disruptive to their planning and command and control, Dempsey told the Journal. These are high-value targets, senior leadership.

U.S. strikes also killed Abd al Basit, the head of Islamic States military operations in Iraq, between Dec. 3 and Dec. 9. Officials told the Journal that a November strike killed midlevel commander Radwin Talib, ISIS' wali, or governor, in Mosul, Iraq.

Fox News' Justin Fishel contributed to this report.

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Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes have gained ground against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, potentially clearing an escape route for persecuted minorities remaining on and near Mt. Sinjar.

The offensive, begun this week, paired the aerial assault with thousands of Kurdish peshmerga fighters in what Kurdish officials called the largest attack so far in the fight against the militants, also known as ISIS.

ISIS elements are starting to flee and leave the area; their morale is very low, Masrour Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan regional governments security council, said in a statement late Thursday. He called it the biggest military operation so far conducted against ISIS the biggest victory of the peshmerga in this war.

Islamic States August siege of Mt. Sinjar drew international attention and eventually prompted President Obama to approve the campaign of airstrikes -- nearly 1,400 to date -- after thousands of members of the local Yazidi minority community were trapped. Many were subsequently able to flee the area, though others remain.

Humanitarian aid flowed into the area and Yazidis fled into the Kurdish region and neighboring Syria, where they were later pushed out again by fighting.

This is a war that the peshmerga are fighting on behalf of the rest of the world, Barzani said, adding that Kurdish fighters proved that protecting innocent lives, the principles and values of democracy and respect for other religions is much more important than the destruction and killing machines that ISIS has brought to this country.

Rear Adm. John F. Kirby of the U.S. Navy confirmed reports that the airstrike campaign, dubbed Operation Inherent Resolve, had killed several Islamic State leaders, although he would not identify them or their rank within the extremist group, except to say that their deaths damaged the groups command structure.

Combined efforts like these are having a significant effect on Daeshs ability to command and control, to resupply, and to conduct maneuvering, Kirby said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

The 53 airstrikes at Sinjar destroyed Islamic State buildings, bridges, guard towers and vehicles, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. James L. Terry, the Kuwait-based commander of the campaign, said Thursday.

Fifteen more airstrikes followed Friday four in Syria and 11 in Iraq, including near Mt. Sinjar and to the east in Tal Afar, striking Islamic State units at both locations, according to a statement from the U.S. military.

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