TIKRIT, Iraq — Iraqi troops on Thursday started the final phase of an offensive to recapture Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, a military official said, hours after the United States launched airstrikes on the Islamic State-held city.
The push, however, is going ahead without the country’s Iran-backed Shiite militias, which had been instrumental to the operation so far and which backed out in protest over the U.S. action.
Late Wednesday, the U.S. began airstrikes on Tikrit at Iraq’s request and in support of the stalled ground offensive, said Lt. Gen. James L. Terry, commander of the U.S.-led campaign to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group.
He said the airstrikes would “destroy ISIL strongholds with precision, thereby saving innocent Iraqi lives while minimizing” unintended damage to civilian structures. ISIL is one of the acronyms for the Islamic State terrorists.
A militia spokesman, Mouin al-Kadhimy, said Thursday that many of the Shiite fighters decided to boycott the Tikrit operation because of the “harmful” involvement of U.S. airstrikes.
During the day, clashes intensified as Iraqi troops and special forces moved toward the city center, said Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi.
Late Thursday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Camp Speicher military base near Tikrit to meet with military commanders and be briefed on their progress since U.S. airstrikes began.
The Islamic State terrorists seized the Sunni city last summer during its lightning advance across northern and western Iraq. The battle for Tikrit is seen as a key step toward driving the Islamic State group from Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, which is farther north.
Earlier, al-Abadi said, Iraqi forces began the “final phase” in the Tikrit offensive but did not acknowledge that U.S.-led coalition forces were playing a direct role. He said Iraqis, “and not anyone but you,” will claim victory against the terrorists.
A spokesman for Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units, the vast majority of which consists of Iranian-backed Shiite militias, said that some Shiite militias — including Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Ketaeb Hizbollah and Muqtada al-Sadr’s Peace Brigades — are boycotting the Tikrit operation because of the involvement of U.S. forces.
“Their involvement is potentially harmful to the operation,” said militia spokesman al-Kadhimy, adding that the powerful Badr Brigade most likely will join the boycott.
