U.S. Begins Airstrikes on ISIS in Tikrit for First Time - NYTimes.com

U.S. Begins Airstrikes on ISIS in Tikrit for First Time - NYTimes.com:



"BAGHDAD — American warplanes began airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Tikrit late Wednesday, entering a struggling Iraqi offensive to retake the city for the first time after more than three weeks of remaining on the sidelines. A coalition of Shiite militias and Iraqi security forces aided by Iranian military advisers have been trying to root out Islamic State fighters from Tikrit, an important city north of Baghdad in Iraq’s Sunni heartland. From the start, the offensive went without American air assistance — government and militia officials had boasted that airstrikes were neither needed nor wanted, and American officials privately expressed discomfort with the idea of directly aiding an operation led by militias and Iranian officials."



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