Reuters, Baghdad :
The offensive to retake Tikrit appeared to stall on Friday, two days after Iraqi security forces and mainly Shi’ite militia pushed into Saddam Hussein’s home city in their biggest offensive yet against the militants.
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.
Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the Shi’ite paramilitary Badr Organisation and now one of the most powerful men in Iraq said the outcome of the battle for Tikrit was in no doubt, but Iraqi forces needed time.
“We are not in a hurry, but we have a plan and we are following it,” Amiri told Iraqi state television from the Tikrit frontline. “Even if the battle drags on for two, three or four days that is okay. We will celebrate the liberation of Tikrit from the enemy.”
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 some of the Shi’ite militia at the forefront of the campaign and is also playing a direct role, is a source of unease for some Sunnis in Iraq and across the wider region.
Islamic State fighters overran Tikrit last June during a lightning offensive that was halted just outside Baghdad. They have since used the complex of palaces built in Tikrit under Saddam, the executed former president, as their headquarters.
The insurgents were still in control of the presidential complex and at least three other districts in the centre of Tikrit on Friday.
The offensive to retake Tikrit appeared to stall on Friday, two days after Iraqi security forces and mainly Shi’ite militia pushed into Saddam Hussein’s home city in their biggest offensive yet against the militants.
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.
Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the Shi’ite paramilitary Badr Organisation and now one of the most powerful men in Iraq said the outcome of the battle for Tikrit was in no doubt, but Iraqi forces needed time.
“We are not in a hurry, but we have a plan and we are following it,” Amiri told Iraqi state television from the Tikrit frontline. “Even if the battle drags on for two, three or four days that is okay. We will celebrate the liberation of Tikrit from the enemy.”
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 some of the Shi’ite militia at the forefront of the campaign and is also playing a direct role, is a source of unease for some Sunnis in Iraq and across the wider region.
Islamic State fighters overran Tikrit last June during a lightning offensive that was halted just outside Baghdad. They have since used the complex of palaces built in Tikrit under Saddam, the executed former president, as their headquarters.
The insurgents were still in control of the presidential complex and at least three other districts in the centre of Tikrit on Friday.
