Iraqi security forces and mainly Shi’ite militia fought Sunni militants in Tikrit on Thursday, a day after they pushed into Saddam Hussein’s home city in their biggest offensive yet against the militants.
U.S. officials said they were closely monitoring accounts from Tikrit, including video posted on social media, showing buildings being set ablaze. But attributing blame was tricky, they noted, pointing to accusations against both the Iran-backed militia and ISIS fighters.
- “What we know is that there are houses on fire,” said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Last month, former U.S. central command advisor Ali Khedery said that the U.S. was complicit in the abuses committed by Baghdad-sponsored militia groups.
“The United States is now acting as the air force, the armory, and the diplomatic cover for Iraqi militias that are committing some of the worst human rights abuses on the planet,” Khedery wrote in Foreign Policy magazine.
ISIS fighters stormed into Tikrit last June during a lightning offensive that was halted just outside Baghdad. They have since used the complex of palaces built in Tikrit under Saddam, the executed former president, as their headquarters.
Another U.S. official urged caution but acknowledged “we are watching this very closely.”
The United States says Baghdad did not seek aerial backup from the U.S.-led coalition in the Tikrit campaign. Instead, support on the ground has come from neighboring Iran, Washington’s long-time rival in the region. Tehran has sent an elite Revolutionary Guard commander to oversee part of the battle.
The situation on the ground was far from clear. Journalists have witnessed property burning. In some cases, militia fighters blamed retreating militants from ISIS. In other cases, militia were suspected of targeting properties of alleged Islamic State sympathizers.
A U.S. security official said civilian casualties were believed to be very limited, since many local residents had long fled the city.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has repeatedly told military commanders and militia leaders to respect civilians and maintain property in territory recaptured from ISIS.
If Iraq’s Shiite-led government retakes Tikrit, it would be the first city clawed back from the Sunni insurgents and would give it momentum in the next, pivotal stage of the campaign to recapture Mosul, the largest city in the north.(alarabiya.net With Reuters)
13/3/15
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Iraqi forces besieging dozens of die-hard jihadists from the Islamic State group in Tikrit will have liberated the city within three days, a spokesman said on Saturday...
ReplyDeleteKarim al-Nuri, a top leader from the Badr militia and the spokesman of the volunteer Popular Mobilisation units, said it would take no more than "72 hours" to flush out holdout IS fighters.
The Popular Mobilisation units account for the bulk of the manpower involved in the two-week-old operation to wrest back Tikrit, alongside army, police, militia and tribal forces.
The last IS fighters holed up in the city centre are "surrounded from all sides", Nuri said.
Speaking to AFP from the outskirts of Tikrit, near the village of Awja, he said "their number is now 60 to 70".
Nuri added that the liberation of Tikrit would only be announced once a path has been cleared through the thousands of bombs the jihadists have planted to defend the city.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Iraqi-forces-will-liberate-Tikrit-within-72-hours-Spokesman/articleshow/46563913.cms
14/3/15
Iraqi troops pause battle for Tikrit, await reinforcements...
ReplyDeleteIraqi forces and mainly Shi'ite militiamen battling to wrest full control of the city of Tikrit from Islamic State militants paused their offensive for a second day on Saturday as they awaited reinforcements, a military source said.
More than 20,000 troops and Iranian-backed Shi'ite fighters entered Tikrit on Wednesday, having retaken areas to the north and south in a campaign launched almost two weeks ago, Iraq's biggest offensive against the militants yet.
Islamic State fighters still hold about half the city and have booby-trapped buildings and laid improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs, the source in the local military command center told Reuters.
More "well-trained forces" were needed for the street-by-street battles that recapturing the whole city would require, the source said, speaking by phone from Tikrit. He did not give a timeline for their arrival.
Victory for Iraq's Shi'ite-led government in Tikrit against the Sunni insurgents would set the tone for a broader confrontation in Mosul, the largest city in the north.................http://www.todayonline.com/world/iraqi-offensive-tikrit-hold-second-day
14/3/15