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The bloody aftermath of Islamic State's mass execution of 770 Iraqi soldiers in Tikrit last year was so vast, it could be seen from space. It was originally thought that 190 troops were slaughtered when the terror group overran and conquered Saddam Hussein's hometown. But crucial satellite imagery uncovered three new execution sites and tripled the death toll. These photographs, footage of the gruesome massacre and harrowing eyewitness accounts have now helped convict 24 of the ISIS fanatics behind the atrocity. An Iraqi court has sentenced them to hang for their role in the slaughter of hundreds of soldiers on...

A senior leader of the Islamic State group has been killed during a military operation by the Iraqi forces in the city of Tikrit, local media reported Monday. Abu Maria, a self-declared governor of ISIS for al-Hajaj and Albu-Tema areas in Iraq was killed by Iraqi troops on Sunday near the Ajeel oil field close to Tikrit, which is located about 87 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraqi News reported. “Today, a force from the Omaya al-Jabbara Battalion has managed to kill the ISIS governor (Wali) of al-Hajaj and Albu-Tema areas, known as Abu Maria, along with his key assistant near...

Iraqi security forces launched a new offensive against Islamic State insurgents in the Sunni Muslim heartland of Anbar province on Wednesday, seeking to build on last week’s victory over the jihadist group in the city of Tikrit. Fighting began in the western province's desert terrain as Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi was touring Anbar, visiting Iraqi army units and pro-government Sunnis, his office said. Abadi was expected to address the nation from Anbar later in the day. "Our next stand and battle will be from Anbar to liberate it entirely," Abadi said in a post on his official Facebook page. "We...

After a nearly month-long assault on the Iraqi city of Tikrit by the Iraqi military and Iranian-backed Shiite militias, the city was finally retaken from ISIS. Recapturing Saddam Hussein's hometown was expected to only take a few days, but ISIS (aka Islamic State, or Daesh) laid a bunch of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that shredded Shia militiamen. And there was another problem, according to US officials: The Iranian-backed militias couldn't shoot very well. "U.S. officials assessed that the Iranian-backed assault on Tikrit was failing because of the inaccuracy of Iranian artillery and the failure of the Tehran-backed militias to respond...

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) — Iraq declared a "magnificent victory" Wednesday over the Islamic State group in Tikrit, a key step in driving the militants out of their biggest strongholds. Iraqi Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi made the pronouncement, saying security forces have "accomplished their mission" in the monthlong offensive to rid Saddam Hussein's hometown and the broader Salahuddin province of the militant group. "We have the pleasure, with all our pride, to announce the good news of a magnificent victory," Obeidi said in a video statement. "Here we come to you, Anbar! Here we come to you, Nineveh, and we say...

Iraqi forces battling to wrest Tikrit from ISIS are now in control of the city, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Tuesday on Iraqiya TV. Al-Abadi, who is also the top military commander, said on state television that the city was liberated. Tikrit had been under ISIS control since June. The push into Tikrit comes days after a series of U.S.-led airstrikes targeted ISIS targets around the city. The airstrikes made it possible for the Iraqi forces to move through the city. Troops reported finding dozens of roadside bombs and booby-trapped buildings as they combed the city. At a Cabinet...

Iranian-backed Shiite militias have left the northern Iraq city of Tikrit, a key condition the U.S. demanded before it agreed to begin launching airstrikes Wednesday to support Iraqi forces and try to retake the city from the Islamic State group, the top U.S. general for the Middle East said Thursday. Austin said he witnessed brutality by Shiite militias during his extensive experience leading U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. "I will not -- and I hope we will never -- coordinate or cooperate with Shiite militias," he said, adding a blunt explanation for why the Iranian-led offensive failed: The wrong...

Iraqi special forces on March 26 began what Baghdad hopes is the final push to regain control of central Tikrit from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group. Iraqi forces advanced on central Tikrit after U.S.-led coalition jets launched their first air strikes on IS targets in Tikrit on March 25. According to the Associated Press news agency, clashes intensified during the day as Iraqi forces moved toward the city center. On March 26, an AP reporter heard a second round of air strikes over Tikrit. The push, however, is going ahead without the country's Iran-backed Shi'ite militias. The top U.S....

On Wednesday, after entirely sitting out the three-week offensive, U.S. forces began carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Tikrit at the request of the Iraqi government, according to Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren.

WASHINGTON -- A senior U.S. official says the U.S. has begun airstrikes in Tikrit in support of a stalled Iraqi ground offensive to retake the city from Islamic State fighters.

Though Islamic State is still spreading terror, its weaknesses are becoming apparent. The caliphate has been pushed out of the Syrian town of Kobane by Kurdish fighters, backed by American air power. It is being squeezed in Tikrit (the tribal base of the former dictator, Saddam Hussein) by the Iraqi army and Shia militias co-ordinated by Iran. Compared with the peak, when it was at the gates of Baghdad, its territory has shrunk by about 25%. IS’s funds are dwindling, too. America and its allies have bombed lucrative oil facilities. Most of the hostages have been sold or murdered in...

Iraq, in short, could be experiencing what Lebanon did decades ago as Hezbollah fighters took the Bekaa Valley. In this case, the land in question is Mesopotamia and the forces are PMUs, but the result will be the same: a swath of land in which the government is gradually ceding ground to powerful paramilitary factions with strong terrorist connections.

Iraqi forces’ operation to retake the city of Tikrit has stalled as troops suffer heavy casualties at the hands of Islamic State militants, raising concerns about whether the pro-government fighters are ready for major offensives. After two days of little activity on the battlefield, Iraq’s interior minister, Mohammed al-Ghabban, confirmed Monday that the offensive has “temporarily stopped.” The steady flow of coffins arriving in Iraq’s Shiite holy city of Najaf suggests a reason for the pause; cemetery workers say as many as 60 war dead have been arriving each day. Since last week, Iraqi forces have hemmed in the Sunni...

Iraq paused its Tikrit offensive on Monday and officials called for more air strikes against Islamic State militants, while an officer said Kurdish forces sustained two more chlorine gas attacks by insurgents. General Aziz Waisi told journalists the insurgents used chlorine twice during a January offensive west of Mosul and once in a December attack on his military police brigade in the Sinjar mountain area. One attack near Mosul, on Jan. 23, was described by Kurdish authorities on Saturday. Waisi said a number of military police - he did not say how many - were taken to hospital, where blood...

Iraqi and Shia militia forces have been taking back ground from Islamic State, pushing the jihadist fighters out of much of the town of Tikrit. But in a sign of Tehran’s growing military presence in the Iraq, Iranian weapons were a nearly ubiquitous sight in images and videos coming out of the offensive to take the mostly Sunni city. Ever since Islamic State shocked the region with its capture of Mosul last summer, Iran has opened up its arsenals and flooded clients, proxies and friends in Iraq with arms and vehicles.

The Iraqi push into Tikrit features loads of Iranian weapons. And the pint-size Safir jeep is one of the most distinctive of them all. Dozens of the rocket launcher-equipped, Iranian-made buggies are in Iraq, helping out Iraqi troops and allied Shia militias. The buggies reflect Iran’s preference for swarm tactics, which emphasize deploying large numbers of simple, cheap vehicles in order to outmaneuver and overwhelm the enemy.

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. New York Times: 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...

For USA in Tikrit, Hope Is The Only Plan The U.S. has no real options if the Shiites forces, backed by Iran, decide to go on a killing spree against Sunnis in Saddam Hussein’s hometown. The American outlook for the battle of Tikrit is a triumph of hope over experience. U.S. military officials hope that Iranian-backed forces eject fighters from the self-proclaimed Islamic State from Tikrit—giving both the U.S. and Iran a victory—but stop short of using that win to carry out sectarian reprisals against Sunnis there. U.S. officials said publicly throughout the week that if Shiite forces, many of...

IRBIL, IRAQ — Iraqi security forces and Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim militias appeared Thursday to be on the verge of victory in a two-week effort to recapture Saddam Hussein’s hometown from the Islamic State, which has held the symbolically important city since June. But the seemingly certain triumph of a force with little Sunni Muslim participation in the center of Iraq’s Sunni heartland has raised another troubling issue: the extension of Iran’s influence in a country where the Shiite Muslim neighbor is already the most significant outside player. The forces that appeared Thursday to have cornered the last Islamic State fighters...

A source in the Salahuddin Operations Command said Iraqi forces would not move forward until reinforcements reached Tikrit, of which Islamic State still holds around half. Using guerrilla warfare tactics, the militants have turned the city into a labyrinth of home-made bombs and booby-trapped buildings, and are using snipers to halt their progress... A victory in Tikrit would give Iraqi forces momentum for the next stage of the campaign to retake Mosul, the largest city under control of Islamic State, which now rules a self-proclaimed caliphate in Sunni regions in Syria and Iraq. But the involvement of Iran, which backs...