Participating in that assault are Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Unfortunately the Kurds aren't that well-equipped when it comes to armored vehicles. But what they lack in high-powered and high-priced equipment they make up for in ingenuity. Twitter user Savas Kerkûki, who describes himself as a former Peshmerga volunteer turned activist, tweeted these photos of improvised armored vehicles being prepped for the attack on Mosul.
Other outlets have said these armored cars and trucks look like they're straight out of "Mad Max," and we agree wholeheartedly with that description. These things look more like they belong on the set of "Mad Max: Fury Road 2" than on a modern battlefield. While the Kurds and their allies are fighting on a modern battlefield their enemies don't exactly make use of cutting-edge equipment either. The Toyota Hilux, basically the Tacoma, is the terrorist group's vehicle of choice. In a battle between the two we like the Kurds' chances. While their behemoths are bound to be slower they are much better armored and equipped, at least to the naked eye.
Those machine guns look like they'd easily rip through the body of a Toyota Hilux at a distance and absolutely eviscerate the truck should its driver try and get too close. The photos tweeted didn't include any additional detail so we don't know what these vehicles started life as, what exact weapons they're equipped with and what is powering them. Here's hoping they're actually functional as these things are bound to strike fear into the hearts of ISIS' fighters once they start rumbling through the streets of Mosul. At the very least we hope they aren't rolling props a la the laughable Hamas "tank" we saw earlier in the year.
