US, Iranian-backed Shiite militias share uneasily in battle for Iraq’s Tikrit

Iranian-backed Shiite militias remained on the front lines of the battle to retake this strategic city from Islamic State days after the US demanded they be sidelined as a condition for joining the fight with airstrikes.
The US military has continued to launch airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Tikrit after it became clear that Shiite forces were still playing a central role in the fight and even as each loudly proclaims opposition to the other, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
An effective ground force will be essential to turn the airstrikes into a full victory and the US called last week for the militias to stand aside and allow regular Iraqi security forces to take the lead. However, on Saturday, at least some of the Shiite fighters were holding their positions.
Ali Jadir Kareem, a fighter with the Al Bataar Brigade, said he and his comrades aren’t leaving. He, along with dozens of other Shiite militia fighters and some Iraqi federal police, was holding a position on the front lines in a municipal building. He sat on the back of a pickup truck with other fighters, watching the police occasionally fire rockets at the city, sending up columns of dark smoke.
“We won’t withdraw,” he said, adding that he was following orders from his commanders. “We will participate in the battle. If there is an advance, we will all advance.”
The US and the Shiite militias are engaged in a public-relations campaign to save face and look good, said Hayder al-Khoei, an associate fellow on the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House who is close with Iraqi Shiite politicians.
“Baghdad clearly needs both the US and Iran to deal with ISIS, and yet both its allies are still tiptoeing around each other on the battlefield because it’s embarrassing to acknowledge cooperation, even if tacit,” said Khoei.
The Iraqi federal police, whom the US is relying on as a partner, also say the Shiite militias are likely to participate in the final push to retake Tikrit, a city dominated by Iraq’s Sunni minority. About 20,000 Iranian-backed Shiite militia fighters spearheaded the assault on former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s hometown that began on March 2, joined by a smaller contingent of some 10,000 regular Iraqi police and military. They didn’t coordinate with the US military, but were assisted by Iranian commanders in the field and Iranian weaponry.