Iraqi security forces battled Islamic State militants in central Tikrit on Sunday as the United States and its allies provided aerial support and local officials warned that the battle to retake the Sunni Muslim city would **t be quick. Islamic State fighters, whose goal is to create a Muslim caliphate across the Middle East, stormed into Tikrit last June during a lightning advance in which they seized swathes of Sunni Iraqi territory before finally being halted outside Baghdad. Complicating matters around Tikrit was a decision by most Iranian-backed Shi'ite armed groups to boycott the current offensive in protest against the U.S.-led air strikes that began on Thursday at the request of the Baghdad government. The Shi'ite militias, aligned with Tehran, have repeatedly said they do **t need U.S. support to drive the Islamic State militants from Tikrit, home city of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
03-30-2015, 04:35 PM
Enemy fire, booby-traps delay Iraqi forces' advance in Tikrit
العرض الشجري