Stay updated with breaking news from Tikrit operation. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
For tribes and then for country. if you can combine some of those things and that s what i think mr. al abadi s attempting to do. read to you the popular mobilization unit which is a shia militia. a consortium of all militias. he s saying this is a continuation of the tikrit operation. it is to cut the supply route from baiji oil refinery in the north tora ma di. after the call of the minister we answered the call. our forces are prepared and are surrounding ramadi in three directions. there s a civil war taking place within kind of a soft civil war taking place within the iraqi government. you have the sovereign actors the isf, the iraqi security forces. prime minister al abadi is considered to be more of a nationalist than sectarian. the difficulty is the pms do not ....
Also be involved in the fighting too. key to all of this is the name they ve given the operation answering the call very redolent of shia culture. that will fuel allegations that this is the iranian backed militia leading the way and it comes as you said after a week of bickering, after saying iraq lacked the will to fight, prime minister said maybe he got the wrong information to make that statement then iran s saying it was the american with the lack of will to fight. moment of truth is here. they announced the operation to take back anbar. we have to see if that translates to success on the ground alisyn. nick, thanks for that update. let s talk more about that fallout from defense secretary ash carter questioning the iraqis will o fight. it s causing a war of words at the highest levels of u.s. and ....
Advisers. you know, it is a key area. and part of the reason the president said that he was going to conduct air strikes against isis in iraq was to keep americans in erbil safe phil. i mean this area was considered the safest area for americans in iraq. i mean i ve been there. there are things like drag racing. it s very american in a lot of ways. i mean what do you make phil of the fact that isis successfully targeted americans, directly really for the first time here? look, what we ve been talking about in the past few weeks are military operations in places like the oil refinery the tikrit operation and ramadi operation. those are military operations where isis is trying to hold territory to set up this caliphate, this sort of religious governance. this is fundamentally different as a counterterrorism analyst. this is a political act, designed to tell the americans, look you got engaged in our backyard you left years ago, you re now conducting air operations. if you re going to ....
Operation. if this operations successful these fighters and iran will take the credit. ben wedeman, cnn, outside tikrit iraq. ben wedeman there for us. this is not the first time that iraqi forces have tried to liberate tikrit. let me bring in lieutenant colonel james reese. let s talk about tikrit strategically. how important is it? well poppy, strategically, it s important. it s a main town main city between baghdad and mosul. it s also the historical aspect of saddam hussein where he was caught just over the river back in 2004 and it s a key area that helps the iraqis control what ....
Unfortunately, the iraqi government said it didn t request assistance from the tikrit operation. if this is successful, these fighters and iran will take the credit. and of course more bad news yesterday we heard from the iraqi ministry that isis has sent bulldozers to the town of the ancient town dating back to about 1300 bc. george? senior international correspondent live in baghdad. government air strikes in ....