Iraq's Defense Minister Declares 'Magnificent Victory' Over ISIS In Tikrit

Iraq's Defense Minister Declares 'Magnificent Victory' Over ISIS In Tikrit

Iraq's Defense Minister Declares 'Magnificent Victory'
Over ISIS In Tikrit

     |  By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and SAMEER N. YACOUB

      

Posted: 04/01/2015 9:31 am EDT
Updated: 04/01/2015 5:59 pm EDT

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/01/iraq-isis-tikrit_n_6984368.html

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) — The government declared victory in Tikrit on Wednesday
over extremists of the Islamic State group, and it warned the militants holding
other Iraqi provinces that they would be the next to fall.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi walked triumphantly along a street in Tikrit,
carrying an Iraqi flag and surrounded by jubilant forces.

Across the border in Syria, however, Islamic State fighters made their
deepest foray yet into the capital of Damascus by infiltrating a Palestinian
refugee camp, according to opposition activists and Palestinian officials.

Iraq's victory over the extremists in Tikrit was seen as a key step toward
eventually driving the militants out of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and
the capital of Nineveh province.

Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi announced the victory, saying security
forces have "accomplished their mission" in the monthlong offensive
to rid Saddam Hussein's hometown and the broader Salahuddin province of the
militant group.



"We have the pleasure, with all our pride, to announce the good news of
a magnificent victory," Obeidi said in a video statement, and he named the
other Iraqi provinces still being held by the IS militants.


"Here we come to you, Anbar! Here we come to you, Nineveh, and we say
it with full resolution, confidence, and persistence," he said.

Al-Abadi said that military engineering units still need more time to clear
Tikrit of booby traps and looked to the next steps for the city and province.

"God willing, there will be a fund to rebuild areas destroyed by Daesh
and the war. Tikrit and Salahuddin areas will be covered by this fund,"
al-Abadi said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

The extremists seized Tikrit last summer during its advance out of Syria and
across northern and western Iraq.

Iraqi forces, including soldiers, police officers, Shiite militias and Sunni
tribes, launched a large-scale operation to recapture Tikrit on March 2. Last
week, the U.S. launched airstrikes on the embattled city at the request of the
Iraqi government.

Recapturing Tikrit is seen as the biggest win so far for Baghdad's
Shiite-led government. The city is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of
Baghdad on the road connecting the capital to Mosul. Retaking it will help
Iraqi forces have a major supply link for any future operation against Mosul.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the victory was compelling evidence
that the U.S. strategy against IS was working. He said the Tikrit operation had
been stalled for weeks but that coalition airstrikes and advancing local forces
apparently caused IS fighters to withdraw.


"What is clear is that over the last five days, this strategy of
backing up Iraqi security forces that are multisectarian in nature with
coalition airstrikes is a pretty powerful combination," Earnest said.


Earlier Wednesday, Iraqi security forces fired on snipers and searched homes
for remaining militants. Soldiers fanned out from the charred, skeletal remains
of the Salahuddin provincial government complex, captured Tuesday.

Militant mortar fire, which had been intense in previous days, fell silent
Wednesday, with commanders saying only a few militant snipers remained in the
city. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.

The objective, said Interior Minister Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, is now to
restore normalcy as quickly as possible.

"After clearing the area from roadside bombs and car bombs, we will
reopen police stations to restore normalcy in the city, and we will form
committees to supervise the return of people displaced from their homes,"
al-Ghabban said. He said the government will help displaced residents return
and that a civil defense unit will be combing the city for roadside bombs and
car bombs.


"Daesh is completely defeated," he added, using an Arabic name for
the group.

A satellite image of Tikrit, released in February by the U.N., showed at
least 536 buildings in the city have been affected by the fighting. Of those,
at least 137 were destroyed and 241 were severely damaged. The current
offensive also exacerbated previous damage, particularly in the south where
clashes have been the most intense.

Parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri urged the government to find the means
to resettle residents from damaged Tikrit buildings. He said this
"requires effort and support by the central government in order to
financially support the people in rebuilding their houses."

Aziz Jaber, a political science professor at Baghdad's Mustansiriyah
University, said retaking Tikrit could be seen as the "beginning of the
end" for the Islamic State group in Iraq.

"Daesh was very talented in psychological warfare, but not any more
after its defeat in Tikrit," he said. "Now, the morale of the Iraqi
forces is high, while that of Daesh is low."

In the fighting in Syria, where Islamic State militants control large parts
of the north, the extremists entered the Palestinian refugee camp in the
capital of Damascus from the nearby Hajar Aswad neighborhood.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the IS group took
control of large parts of the Yarmouk camp. If they gain full control, they can
potentially threaten the heart of Damascus, the seat of President Bashar
Asssad's power.

The Observatory reported heavy clashes in the camp between IS fighters and
members of an anti-Assad Palestinian faction called Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis.

Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus, has been under
government siege for nearly two years. U.N. aid workers have been sending food
parcels into the camp, where thousands of civilians remain trapped and in
desperate need of food and medicine. The camp had seen fighting in the past
between government forces and militants who control much of the camp.

Anwar Raja, the spokesman for the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine — General Command, said IS fighters had been based in the Hajar
Aswad neighborhood for months. He said Wednesday's push into the camp showed
coordination between IS and a rival group, the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's branch
in Syria.

"The Nusra Front opened the road for them in order to infiltrate the
camp and several hours ago they entered Yarmouk," Raja said by telephone.

 COMMENT:

FROM A VERY CLOSE
DETAIL OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS THIS VICTORY IS SHORT LIVED AND IN FUTURE MORE
BLOOD WOULD RUN TO MAKE RIVERS OF BLOOD FOR EX MALIK’S RIVER OF BLOOD FOR HIM TO
SWIM IN THE BLOOD OF IRAQI AND IRANIAN SHIAII.

THIS WOULD BE
BECAUSE OF AN US EX PRESIDENT’S CRIMINAL ASSOCIATION WITH GENOCIDE CRMINAL
ISRAELI TOP ZIONISTS POLITICAL LEADERS .

THAT EFFECT STILL
IS IMPACTING  THE KILLING OF INNOCENT
HUMAN BEINGS SLAUGHTERED LIKE SACRIFINGS ANIMALS. 

IN ADDTION, THE WORLD IS ENJOYING
THE BUTCHERYOF THE BASTARD NAZI’S SONS OF THE BITCHES LIKE NETANYAHU, BOEHNER,
AND MITCH McCONEL.

BUT WHEN THEIR ONE
RELIGIOUS PEOPLE DIES THEN THEY GO NAKED AFTER THE PERSON WHO KILLED THEIR RELIGIOUS
PERSON.

THESE SUPER POWERS
TALK OF RELIGIOUS HARMONEY, PEACE, TRANQULITY, AND RACIALISM. SEE THE BASTARD
TONY BLAIR SITING ON THE LAP OF THE MONARCHY AND IS BEING FED GRAPS AND APPLE
SO THAT HE TONY BLAIR COULD FUCK THE UNFORTUNATE SHAMELESS ENGLISH PEOPLE.
 
INCLUDING THE MONARHCY.

STILL  BETTER THEN LIKE THE ISRAEL ‘S ZIONISTS ASSASSIN
AND GENOCIDE CRIMINAL SUPORTERS OF NETANYAHU ARE FUCKING THE MIDDLE CLASS AND
POOR AMERICAN REPUBLICANS.

THE PANDORUM BOX
THAT THE IDIOT EX US PRESIDENT THE WANTED GENOCIDE CRIMINAL G W BUSH OPENED BY
DECLAREING CRUSADE WITH THE INTENT TO KILL THE MUSLIM TO MAKE THE ZIONISTS
HAPPY THINKING HE DID A GREAT THING.

THIS BASTARD ONLY
REALIZED WHEN HE GOT SHOES ON HIS FACE BUT HE WAS LUCKY THAT IT DID NOT HIT HIM
BUT COULD HE SAVE THE COUNTRY FROM BEING HIT AT DAMAGING THE PRESTIGE, HONOR ,
DIGNITY AND GRACE OF THE LONE SUPER POWER.

THIS IS WHY THE
AMERICANS HATE THE ENTIRE BUSH DYNASTY FROM THE CORE OF THEIR HEART AND SAYS HE
IS THEISRAEL’S ZIONISTS PENIS AND VAGINA SUCKER. 

NOT ONLY THAT THIS
CRIMINAL HANDED OVER THE COUNTRY TO ANOTHER SON OF A SWINE MALIKI WHO FUCKED
THE COUNTRY AND DIVIDED THE COUNTRY PSYCHOLOGICALLY NEVER TO UNITE AGAIN.  AND THEN HOW WOULD THEY WOULD NOT AGAIN FIGHT FOR
THE EXISTENCE.