Iraq's defence ministry said on Tuesday that its forces have surrounded the city along the Tigris River, and are preparing to advance into the city.
Government troops and the Shia volunteer fighters from Popular Mobilisation Forces are now reportedly stationed in the main streets of the city, as they started to advance towards al-Qadisiah Street, the defence ministry statement said.
Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, who is reporting from the Kurdish city of Erbil, quoted sources as saying that Iraqi forces are now holding parts of the city.
"But that doesn't mean they have control of the entire city," our correspondent said, adding that ISIL fighters have reportedly blown up a bridge leading to Tikrit.
Several roads into the city are also reportedly rigged with explosives.
Earlier, an Iraqi defence ministry video showed Iraqi forces destroying 20 heavy machine guns, and 20 vehicles as it advanced into Tikrit.
At least 382 improvised explosive devices were also reportedly dismantled.
The same video claimed that government troops have killed 350 suspected ISIL fighters within four days of its ongoing operation in the area. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the ISIL death toll.
Sectarian tension
The battle over Tikrit, a Sunni stronghold, is crucial for Iraqi forces in their advance towards Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, which is controlled by ISIL.
Tikrit serves as an important hub because it is on the main highway leading to Baghdad.
But the advance of government forces and Shia militias into Tikrit has also ignited sectarian tensions.
- On Tuesday, Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr issued a statement urging the Iraqi government to investigate and punish anyone using "excessive violence" against the [Sunni] residents from areas newly-liberated from ISIL.
Al-Khazali had said that his group was working under the guidance of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the elite Quds Brigade, who has been seen directing operations on the eastern flank of Tikrit.
In the last few days, Iraqi forces and Shia militia have captured several towns in the outskirts of Tikrit, including al-Alam and al-Dour.
- Government troops have also reportedly taken control of the oil fields in al-Ojail, another town near Tikrit.
- More troops are also reportedly standing by further out, in Samarra and Beiji, as well as outside the town of Garma in Anbar Province.
Source: Al Jazeera
10/3/15
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Related:
Iraqi Army Prepares for Third Stage of Its Campaign to Crush ISIL in Salahuddin
Iraq to liberate IS-seized Mosul without help from foreign troops
- As the battle for Tikrit rages between Islamic State militants and Iraqi security forces and Shi'ite militias, two major concerns have emerged: the role of Iran and the fear that sectarian divides will grow wider...
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Iraqi troops, militia retake strategic town north of Tikrit from Islamic State...
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - Iraqi troops and militias drove Islamic State insurgents out of the town of al-Alam on Tuesday, clearing a final hurdle before a planned assault on Saddam Hussein's home city of Tikrit in their biggest offensive yet against the ultra-radical group.
The power base of executed former president Saddam's clan, Tikrit is the focus of a counter-offensive against Islamic State by more than 20,000 troops and Shi'ite Muslim militias known as Hashid Shaabi, backed by local Sunni Muslim tribes.
If Iraq's Shi'ite-led government is able to retake 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............http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/11/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-idUSKBN0M60UD20150311?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
Former CIA chief Michael Hayden said Tuesday he was “uncomfortable” with Iran’s growing influence in Iraq, made especially evident by an offensive in Tikrit...
ReplyDeleteThe city, which is the home town of former president Saddam Hussein, is the target of as assault led by Iraqi troops and Shiite militias backed by Tehran.
“I am made uncomfortable by the growing Iranian influence in Iraq. I am made uncomfortable by the fact that it looked like a Shia advance against a Sunni town,” said Hayden, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency between 2006 and 2009.
“And the proof would be what happens if and when they retake Tikrit ... How the militias act toward the local population,” he added, during a roundtable on international intelligence sharing at the New America Foundation.
Hayden said the United States should not be sharing intelligence with the Iranians on Iraq, despite their shared desire to wipe out the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“The Islamic Republic’s ultimate objective is different,” he explained.
“We are looking for an inclusive government with minority rights and the participation of all the major religious and ethnic groups.
“It’s clear to me that the Iranian policy is based upon Shia dominance of the new Iraqi state, and that effort in itself feeds the Sunni opposition, which ISIL [ISIS] then lives off of to resurrect their movement,” Hayden added, using an alternative acronym for ISIS.
Some 30,000 men have been involved in a week-old operation to recapture Tikrit, one of the ISIS fighters’ main hubs since they overran large parts of Iraq nine months ago.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/03/11/Ex-CIA-chief-uncomfortable-with-Iran-role-in-Iraq-.html
11/3/15
Iraqi forces vow to liberate Tikrit within 72 hours ...
ReplyDeleteIraqi forces besieging dozens of die-hard jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group in Tikrit will have liberated the city within three days, a spokesman said Saturday.
Karim al-Nuri, a top leader from the Badr militia and the spokesman of the volunteer Popular Mobilization units, said it would take no more than “72 hours” to flush out holdout ISIS fighters.
The Popular Mobilization 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 ISIS fighters holed up in the city center are “surrounded from all sides,” Nuri said..................http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/03/14/Iraqi-forces-vow-to-liberate-Tikrit-within-72-hours-.html
14/3/15
Iraqi troops pause battle for Tikrit, await reinforcements...
Delete(Reuters) - Iraqi 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.........http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/14/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-idUSKBN0MA0DX20150314?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
14/3/15