Good news on many front in the Tikrit area today. The Iraqi army (with a lot of help from various small Sunni and large Irani-backed Shia militias) is currently decisively winning the Battle of Tikrit. The Iraqi army is estimating that it’s securingone street in town every 30 minutes.
The really good news is that so far there are no reports of Shia massacres of Sunni civilians; quite to the opposite the Iraqi army is reporting significant co-operation from Saddam Hussein’s own tribe.
From a military perspective this isn’t as damaging to ISIL as Kobani/Ayn-al-Arab was because they apparently left only a few hundred fighters in Tikrit and relied on IEDs and ambushes to delay and cause casualties to the Iraqis.
Strategically though, it is the first significant victory that the Iraqi state has had over ISIL.
The most important thing is now for nobody to wreck this through some senseless act of sectarianism.
Re: Iraq Army and Militias liberating Tikrit from ISIL today
Very good to know.
Evil eventually gets crushed. Allah doesn't let it hang around for too long. And especially these gross misrepresentations of Islam, Allah I don't think will tolerate it for too long. Eventually these guys will get their due.
Re: Iraq Army and Militias liberating Tikrit from ISIL today
it was great to c joint action....there were not only Shia and Sunnis together but there were several Christian volunteers and army soldiers too......next stop should b Mosul.....amazing how ISIS runs when it comes to face to face battle and only resort to bombings and beheading of civilians in markets and mosques........
Re: Iraq Army and Militias liberating Tikrit from ISIL today
But Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, has said that without the broader US-led air strike campaign, the Tikrit offensive would have been impossible.
Re: Iraq Army and Militias liberating Tikrit from ISIL today
Takrit operation has taken Americans and Western allies by surprise. Operation started without knowledge of west and no air strike was asked neither USA or allies made any air strike in Takrit. Most American air strike is at Mosul and surrounding areas, as Americans were expecting move by Iraqi government to take over Mosul. But Iraq decided to take Takrit before starting campaign for Mosul.
Re: Iraq Army and Militias liberating Tikrit from ISIL today
Americans knew and say it out because they wanted more Sunni participation and actual Iraqi units, not militias, to do the brunt of fighting
victory is much easy (ask the Americans) but governing is much different. Will the Iraqi govt engage former baathists or let them be incorporated by another group in the future?
Re: Iraq Army and Militias liberating Tikrit from ISIL today
I know Tikrit. That Saeed Jarrah guy in "lost" was from there. He belonged to the republican guards and was professional torcherer by his own admission (S01E09). Anyone knows about his current whereabouts?
Iraqi security forces and militias fought their way into Saddam Hussein’s home city of Tikrit today, advancing simultaneously from the north and south as their biggest counter-offensive so far against Isis jihadists approached its climax.
Army and Shia militia fighters captured part of Tikrit’s northern Qadisiya district, the provincial governor said, while in the south of the city a security officer said another force made a rapid push towards the centre. There were explosions and heavy gunfire as attack helicopters fired missiles and ground troops laid down heavy machine gunfire only a few miles from the centre of Tikit, where black smoke could be seen rising overhead…
Re: Iraq Army and Militias liberating Tikrit from ISIL today
Major General Qasem Soleimani, the shadowy former leader of the elite Quds Force, the special operations arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC), is directly overseeing the eastern offensive on Tikrit…