Is the U.S. winning in Tikrit?
Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi confirmed recently that the city of Tikrit (in Iraq) has been recaptured from Islamic State (ISIS) after a long battle.
Tikrit was considered Saddam Hussein’s hometown.
Haider al-Abadi went on live television to announce the liberation of Tikrit and congratulated the Iraqi security forces and popular volunteers “on the historic milestone,” according to the IB Times U.K.
According to the I.B. Times U.K., “an Iraqi commander said the Iraqi flag is flying on the Salaheddin provincial headquarters in the flashpoint city.”
Previously, Iraqi Shi’ite militias halted Tikrit operations following US air strikes on IS defenders.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, A’laa al-Idani, told IBTimes UK air strikes by the US and its coalition allies would help to destroy the network of tunnels where IS militants were holed up and allow the army and militias to fully take the city after over a week of fighting.
Iraqi forces launched an attack to push IS out of Tikrit on March 2nd, with a force of 30,000 Sunni and Shi’ite fighters. Taking back Tikrit could serve as a launchpad for a key battle to seize Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, back from the jihadists.
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In another twist to the complicated system of allies and enemies of the Middle East, an Islamic State fighter currently under trial in a Turkish high criminal court has implicated Turkey’s state intelligence service in the willful transfer of weapons and military hardware to the terror organization. This was reported by Today’s Zaman on Monday.
OK, Fine. 