Iraq launches attacks to retake Tikrit

Baghdad, March 2

Backed by allied Shiite and Sunni fighters, Iraqi security forces today began a large-scale military operation to recapture Saddam Hussein’s hometown from the Islamic State, state TV said, a major step in a campaign to reclaim a large swath of territory in northern Iraq controlled by the militants.

The city of Tikrit, some 130 km north of Baghdad, fell into the hands of the Islamic State group last summer along with the country’s second-largest city of Mosul and other areas in the country’s Sunni heartland after the collapse of national security forces. Tikrit is one of the largest cities held by the Islamic State group and sits on the road to Mosul.

Security forces have so far been unable to retake Tikrit, but momentum has begun to shift after soldiers, backed by airstrikes from a US-led coalition, recently took back the nearby refinery town of Beiji. Any operation to take Mosul likely would require Iraq to seize Tikrit first because of its strategic location for military enforcements.

Al-Iraqiya television said the forces were attacking Tikrit from different directions, backed by artillery and airstrikes by Iraqi fighter jets. It said the militants were dislodged from some areas outside the city, but gave no details.

Iraq is bitterly divided between minority Sunnis, who were an important base of support for Saddam, and the Shiite majority. The cooperation between Shiite and Sunni fighters in today’s operation was an important development in the battle against the Islamic State group, though the presence of Shiite forces in the Sunni area risks prompting a backlash in the future.

Hours ahead of the operation, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a Shia, called on Sunni tribal fighters to abandon the extremist group, offering what he described as “the last chance” and promising them a pardon.

His comments appeared to be targeting former members of Iraq’s outlawed Baath party, loyalists to Saddam, who joined the Islamic State group during its offensive. Iraq’s air force was carrying out strikes in support of the advancing ground forces, who were being reinforced by troops and militia — known as Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation units — from the neighbouring province of Diyala to the east.

Iraqi army forces in a military base just north of Tikrit also bombarded Islamic State positions in the city, another source said.

Declaring the start of operations on Sunday evening, Abadi gave Islamic State supporters what he said was one last chance to lay down their arms, or face “the punishment they deserve because they stood with terrorism”. — Reuters