Iraq Launches Major Offensive to Recapture Tikrit From ISIL

Al Jazeera America

.

Government forces backed by allied Shia and Sunni fighters have begun a large-scale military operation to recapture Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The offensive is part of the biggest military operation in the Sunni-majority province of Salahuddin since last June, when ISIL fighters, exploiting sectarian resentments of the Shia-led government, seized vast swaths of northern Iraq and advanced towards the capital, Baghdad…

“These groups have a troubling history of sectarian violence and abuse that, if left unchecked, could provide the Islamic State with the sectarian war they desire above all else,” said intelligence consultancy The Soufan Group in an analysis on Monday. “Salahuddin is a Sunni-majority province in a Shia-majority country. This means there will be a short fuse before sectarian violence explodes, when towns such as Tikrit…are liberated by the much-feared and loathed Shia militias…”

..

Click here to read the IntelBrief quoted above.

.

To read the full article please click on the link below:
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/2/iraq-launches-major-offensive-to-recapture-tikrit-from-isil.html