Posted on 03/16/2015 7:08:03 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Iraqi army and Shia militias trying to retake the city of Tikrit from Islamic State forces paused their offensive over the weekend, claiming they need reinforcements while simultaneously saying they want to avoid civilian casualties and preserve infrastructure.
The 30,000 government troops are facing a much smaller force of IS fighters, and are apparently unable to advance beyond the fringes of the city.
Iraqi officials and allied militia leaders have been saying since last week that they are in control of the battlefield. They said that they had surrounded the handful of Islamic State fighters remaining in Tikrit, and that full government control would be restored there in a matter of days.
There has been intense international pressure to avoid civilian casualties and revenge attacks on people or property in an offensive by a mostly Shiite force in a hub of the so-called Sunni triangle. Around two-thirds of the pro-government force is made up of the mostly Shiite militias now known as popular mobilization forces.
As the days pass, critics are asking why the government’s 30,000-strong force has been unable to dislodge the last Islamic State fighters — and whether the reduced pace is a bad sign for future efforts to root the militants out of their self-declared capital, the much larger city of Mosul.
“There is a minimum amount of Daesh fighters in Tikrit,” said Alaa Makki, a former lawmaker and a member of the mostly Sunni Islamic Party, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL. “They are controlling the situation there — wow!”
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Contrast this with the daily WWII reports we see here on FR.
A much smaller ISIS force, with no air assets whatsoever, somehow manages to fight back the Iraqi military supplemented by Shiite militias. The Iraqis have choppers and were trained by our guys to use them. WTF?
Yep... no way could we prosecute a war like WWII ever again.
Fighting in urban areas is brutal, firepower intensive and close range. There will be lots of casualties if the defenders stay and fight. Given the feral animals on both sides there will be civilian human shields and mass slaughter.
TIKRIT NIGHTLIFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkbWgMxGa-I
Not surprising, urban fighting is the toughest
there is. Probably should have MOABed the whole
place.
It sickens me that we set these people up and now
are not supporting them. Kind of like Vietnam eh.
Odd how democrats oppose every thing then feel no
responsibility for what happens...
Calling on Iran’s new ally, the United States of Obama....
The Democrats wait for someone to start doing gay marriages on either side. Then once they will fall for this bait, the ally will cut the gays’ heads off.
Used to be Islam pretended they were Christian and divided Christians and Jews, now they can pretend to be gay, and that will be it.
Holy molie! Awesome footage. Sure hate to be on the
receiving end of all that. Still the only way is to
go in and winkle the survivors out, and there wiil
be survivors even after that pounding.
Did the Iranians go home ?
That’s some intense stuff. Thanks for posting.
Progressives always progress forward forgetting their past mistakes. We conservatives always remember our past mistakes and progress cautiously. It is called wisdom.
thanks. exactly what I was thinking reading the article(s)
Isis has moles all over Iraqs military. And they have the ability to strike deep in Shiite territory because they all look act talk alike.
Saudi Arabia is supporting ISIS so there is that too. If too many Iranian caskets start showing up in Tehran it could make the Iranian mullahs afraid of some overthrow. Hell it just might be a contest one who gets overthrown first, the Iranians or the Saudis.
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