Iraqi forces take Tikrit, but victory celebration may be premature
“[It’s] a political statement. I’m not sure how much that reflects the events on the ground,” said Ben Connable, a senior policy analyst at the Rand Corp. “We still have to see if ISIS fighters have cleared out and if they plan on conducting terrorist activities against Iraqi Security Forces that will be left behind.”
Symbolic, strategic city
For Iraqis, securing Tikrit would be a major symbolic win against the Islamic State and would open the door — and secure supply routes — for Iraqi forces to take the fight to other cities under terrorist control, said Judith Yaphe, visiting professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
“If the government doesn’t take this one, they’re not going to get much farther,” she said. “They can’t just go to Mosul and bypass Tikrit.”
Iraqi forces Tuesday battled Islamic State militants holed up in downtown Tikrit, going house to house and street to street in search of snipers and booby traps as fighting raged into the afternoon. Estimates differed widely on how much Iraqi forces held in this strategic city on the banks of the Tigris River.
Army Lt. Gen. Talib Shaghati said at least 75 percent of Tikrit had been recaptured. Ammar Hikmat, deputy governor of Salahuddin province, said more than 40 percent was under Iraqi control.
“Our security forces are now pushing forward toward the presidential complex and have already entered parts of it,” Mr. Hikmat said. “I think the whole city will be retaken within the coming 24 hours.”
An Associated Press reporter embedded with Iraqi Security Forces saw soldiers surround the iconic presidential palace, and they also surrounded the provincial government headquarters.
Soldiers detonated bombs remotely while federal police went house to house to arrest militants and identify booby traps that may slow the offensive.
via NorthEast Calling http://ift.tt/1C56KMk
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