The US is not providing airstrikes to help the Iraqi government’s new counteroffensive to again try to take back the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Tikrit from the Daesh terrorists, The Washington Times reported on Tuesday.
The American-led coalition has conducted thousands of airstrikes since August to whittle down the Daesh occupiers, but in this case, it is letting Iraqi aircraft do the bombing.
After at least two failed attempts in recent months to capture Tikrit, Iraq has mustered a much larger force of 25,000.
A large number of them are not the regular Iraqi army but Shiite militia fighters who are battling Iraqi Sunni groups loyal to Daesh.
Iraq’s largest counteroffensive to date began Monday morning with thrusts from the south and north aimed at retaking Saddam Hussein’s old neighborhood.
Press reports from Baghdad said Iranians were backing up the Shia militias, creating a possible combustible ethnic mix that could break out into sectarian violence instead of a well-orchestrated campaign.
The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the attack with an olive branch to Iraqi Sunnis who joined the Daesh group: Leave the group and win a grant of amnesty.
Navy Cmdr. Elissa Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, referred to the battle as “their [Iraq‘s] operation.”
“The U.S. has not provided airstrikes in support of the operation,” Cmdr. Smith said. “From my understanding, the Iraqis haven’t asked us to. All of our airstrikes are conducted in coordination with the Iraqis.”