Advance into Tikrit hindered by snipers
KIRKUK: Iraqi forces closed in on Tikrit Tuesday, their progress slowed by jihadist snipers and booby traps, on the second day of Baghdad’s largest operation yet against the Islamic State (IS) group.
The government has mobilised a 30,000-strong force for the push to retake Tikrit made up of Shia militiamen and Sunni tribesmen as well as troops and police.
Outnumbered and outgunned, the jihadists who have held Tikrit since June 2014 have been resorting to guerrilla tactics to disrupt the government’s advance.
“They are using urban warfare and snipers, so we are advancing in a cautious and delicate way, and we need more time,” a lieutenant-general on the ground said.
Iraqi forces are moving on Tikrit from three directions, with units targeting the towns of al-Alam and ad-Dawr to the north and south, while another large contingent drives from the east.
“We are close to ad-Dawr, but Daesh is still in the centre,” the senior officer said, using an Arabic acronym for the IS.
Units were also moving from a variety of other directions, with military sources saying the plan was to encircle and besiege IS fighters in Tikrit.
The jihadist group announced in a radio bulletin on Tuesday that a US national from its ranks had carried out a suicide attack against Iraqi forces near Samarra, the other main city in Salaheddin province.
The attacker was referred to by his nom de guerre, Abu Dawud al-Amriki. The group released a picture purportedly of him, wearing a mask that only reveals a pair of dark eyes.
The operation, the government’s largest since it started attempting to regain the ground it lost to jihadists last summer, was announced on Sunday by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
Both Iraqi and Iranian media said Qassem Soleimani − the commander of the al-Quds Force covert operations unit of Tehran’s elite Revolutionary Guards − was in Salaheddin province to help coordinate operations.
The recapture of Tikrit is of both strategic and symbolic importance.
About 160km north of Baghdad, it is the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein, the remnants of whose Ba’ath party have collaborated with the IS.
Commanders have said Tikrit is a stepping stone for an even more ambitious operation aimed at retaking Mosul, the large northern city which has been the main IS Iraq hub. The battle for Tikrit, which the government has already tried and failed to retake several times, is seen as a test of how effectively such diverse fighting units work together.
“The battle for Tikrit and other towns in Salaheddin province will provide a mini-preview of what awaits further to the north in Mosul,” said the Soufan Group intelligence consultancy.
Tikrit and its surroundings are Sunni and some tribes have been accused of involvement in the massacre of hundreds of new, mostly Shia, recruits at the nearby base called Speicher in June.
Some leaders, including the powerful head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation units Hadi al-Ameri, have explicitly said the Tikrit operation would be an opportunity to exact revenge.