Government planes pounded Tikrit with air strikes as fighting broke out across the city, witnesses said, as thousands of troops advanced in the most ambitious operation Iraqi forces have carried out since insurgents led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL) overran swathes of five provinces weeks earlier.
The predominantly Sunni city, former dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown and a hotbed of antipathy toward Iraq’s Shiite-led government, is one of two major urban centers that fell to insurgents earlier this month during their lightning offensive across the country’s north and west.
Iraqi forces began their assault on Tikrit on Saturday with a multi-pronged attack spearheaded by ground troops backed by tanks and helicopters.
The insurgents appeared to have repelled the military’s initial push, however, and had retained control of most the city on Sunday, a provincial official said by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media.
He said that the fighting was concentrated in the northern neighborhood of Qadissiyah. He also reported clashes northwest of the city around an air base that previously served as a US military facility known as Camp Speicher.
Muhanad Saif al-Din, who lives in the city center, said he could see smoke rising from Qadissiyah, which borders the University of Tikrit, where troops brought by helicopter established a bridgehead two days ago. He said many of the militants in Tikrit had deployed to the city’s outskirts, apparently to blunt the military attack.
Military spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi told reporters Sunday that the military was in full control of the university and had raised the Iraqi flag over the campus.
“The battle has several stages. The security forces have cleared most of the areas of the first stage and we have achieved results,” al-Moussawi said. “It is a matter of time before we declare the total clearing (of Tikrit).”
Jawad al-Bolani, a security official in the provincial operation command, said the US was sharing intelligence with Iraq and has played an “essential” role in the Tikrit offensive.
“The Americans are with us and they are an important part in the success we are achieving in and around Tikrit,” al-Bolani told The Associated Press.
Washington has sent 180 of the 300 American military advisers President Barack Obama has promised to help Iraqi forces. The US is also flying manned and unmanned aircraft on reconnaissance missions over Iraq.
First batch of Russian warplanes delivered
The Tikrit offensive comes as Iraq took delivery of the first batch of Sukhoi warplanes from Russia, with the newly-purchased Su-25 aircraft expected to be pressed into service as soon as possible, bolstering Iraq's air power.
Su-25s are designed for ground attack, meaning they will be useful for Iraqi forces trying to root out ISIS-led militants from a string of towns and cities they have seized.
http://www.france24.com/en/20140629-battle-tikrit-continues-iraq-receives-russian-jets-isis/
