Airstrikes set stage for Iraqi push on Tikrit

Iraqi troops entered the final phase of an offensive to recapture Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, a military official said Thursday, after the United States launched airstrikes on the ISIL- held city.

The push is going ahead without the country’s Iran- backed Shiite militias, which had been instrumental to the operation so far but backed out in protest over the U. S. action.

The U. S. began airstrikes on Tikrit late Wednesday at Iraq’s request and in support of the stalled ground offensive, said Lt. Gen. James L. Terry, the commander of the U. S.led campaign to defeat ISIL.

He said the airstrikes would “destroy ISIL strongholds with precision, thereby saving innocent Iraqi lives while minimizing ” unintended damage to civilian structures.

Militia spokesman Mouin al-Kadhimy said many of the Shiite fighters boycotted the Tikrit operation because of the “harmful” involvement of U. S. airstrikes.

Clashes intensified as Iraqi troops and special forces moved toward the city centre, Lt. Gen. Abdul- Wahab al- Saadi said.

ISIL seized the Sunni city last summer during its lightning advance across northern and western Iraq. The battle for Tikrit is seen as a key step toward eventually driving ISIL from Iraq’s second largest city Mosul, which is farther north.

Iranian military advisers have been providing significant support since the Tikrit offensive began March 2, arming and training the Iraqi Shiite militias.

But the top U. S. general for the Middle East said Thursday that Iranian forces and Shiite militia have left the fight and pulled back from Tikrit as a condition to U. S. involvement. Gen. Lloyd Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee the U. S. agreed to come in with airstrikes under the condition that the militias pull back.