Tikrit rebels 'push back Iraq army'

BBC World News ^ | 29 June 2014 | BBC

[LeoWindhorse]

Iraqi government forces trying to retake the city of Tikrit from Sunni insurgents have pulled back to a nearby town amid fierce clashes, reports say.

Government troops launched an assault on the city on Saturday with tanks, armoured vehicles and air support.

Eyewitnesses say both sides suffered heavy losses and that the army had to pull back to Dijla, 25km to the south.

[LeoWindhorse]

How do you fail to over run the enemy if you have Abrams tanks ? Are ISIS managing to kill Iraqi Abrams ? What a waste of munitions , to give these Iraqis our best gear . All they know how to do is retreat and surrender , unless their enemies are almost completely unarmed and helpless . Use B-52....Rolling Thunder 2

[Gen.Blather]

The Abrams is high maintenance. When Obama said we’d pull out GD’s maintenance jobs came open in droves. If the tanks are not being maintained chances are many subsystems won’t work. So, they may only be 70 ton mobile radios at this point. Also, they need support. If the support troops aren’t advancing due to IED’s it would be foolish to send them in by themselves.

[clearcarbon]

I wonder how much respect both sides are showing for Islamic holy sites in this conflict.

[riverrunner]

High quality and smart weapon systems take high quality and trained personal to use them for good effect.

[gusopol3]

I thought the Kurds had secured Tikrit during the initial ISIS advance?

[Gen.Blather]

I worked on the tank for GD. GD went overboard to make it simple to troubleshoot. But from what I’m told by the people on the ground in Iraq it was beyond the local’s abilities.

[gusopol3]

It was Kirkuk

[Psalm 73]

I do think it's interesting that the Iraqi Army got pushed around until American advisors arrived - only then did they formulate some type of counter-attack.
They may have a large army with advanced technology, but without logistics and leadership (things no army does better than ours), they are just mush.

[mac_truck]

I wonder how much respect both sides are showing for Islamic holy sites in this conflict.

My understanding is that the Sunni rebels are targeting the Shia holy sites and the Iraqi/Iranian militias are focused on defending them. They seem to care more about these places than they do about the water supply.

[Will88]

A BBC report late yesterday said the Iraqi army had largely retaken Tikrit.

[RummyChick]

Young Saddam Hussein always knew how to charm the ladies

[clearcarbon]

"I wonder how much respect both sides are showing for Islamic holy sites in this conflict."

"My understanding is that the Sunni rebels are targeting the Shia holy sites and the Iraqi/Iranian militias are focused on defending them. They seem to care more about these places than they do about the water supply."

I recall that it was a big deal in 2003 that American troops respect holy sites, even if they were used as sanctuaries or military bases by the enemy.

[mac_truck]

Good point.. I’m pretty sure the Sunni extremists aren’t going to ‘take a knee’ in the village square to please some Shite ayatollah either.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

So yesterday when the Iraq govt said it had beaten the rebels in Tikrit was just a lie

[Fitzy_888]

Assad has thousands of Russian tanks, but in unable to take back cities. Alewites (Shia sect) and Shiites are the ruling minority, naturally much of the officer core is Alewite or Shiite and the infantry is (read was) Sunni consripts. Assad can field and man tanks all day, but he doesn’t have infantry support for those tanks. Tanks are very venerable without infantry support. So, the tanks run into the rebel held cities, take a few pot shots and quickly retreat. Those cities are ruinous heaps with snipers and anti-tank weapons in every nook and cranny. Look at the video coming out of Syria and it confirms that above. Tanks speeding through the cities taking shot, if they stay still to long they are set up for an attack by man portable anti-tank weapons. Without massed infantry Assad never retakes anything.

The fight described above is ISIS’s bread and butter, they’ve been at it for years now.

[Fitzy_888]

As described in post 17 there are dozens of videos showing something much like this, tanks without effective infantry support. This is the fight ISIS knows very well, they have years of experience at it.

Syrian rebels using RPG-29 to destroy SAA T-72
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2TLS1sqMl8

[Fitzy_888]

This capability Syrian rebels have achieved with the support of Obama and McCain, now it’s at work in Iraq.

Tank compilation - Syrian Rebels destroyed Syrian Army Tanks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2_bjNGaEes

[LeoWindhorse]

argh , I cannot listen to that raghead rubbish music ....

Russian armor are not Abrams