Iraqi President Fouad Massoum said yesterday that the US-led coalition would soon carry out air strikes against Islamic State in the Sunni city of Tikrit, after starting aerial reconnaissance flights this week.
A three-week offensive by Iraqi government forces and Iranian-backed Shi’ite paramilitaries has failed to flush out Islamic State fighters from Tikrit, the birthplace of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
“Since yesterday, aerial support and reconnaissance flights started in Tikrit. They first begin with reconnaissance missions; then they compile the aerial reports; and afterwards the aerial (strike) operations start,” Massoum told Reuters in an interview at the presidential palace in Baghdad.
Iraqi military commanders had asked for air strikes, while the Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias had publicly rejected the US role in the campaign to retake the jihadist bastion.
Faced with the deadlock, the Iraqi government had called a halt to most operations a week ago, citing concerns about civilian and military casualties.
But Massoum made clear that the Iraqi government had decided to ask for the US-led alliance’s air support in the battle despite the strong aversion of Shi’ite paramilitary leaders, who boast the strongest fighting force in the war against the militant Islamic State.
“The Iraqi government along with residents of the area wanted an active contribution from the international coalition... The Iraqi government alone decides and no other force decides,” Massoum, a veteran Kurdish politician who became Iraq’s president last summer, said.
Upon being informed of Massoum’s comment, Shi’ite paramilitary commander Hadi al-Amiri, one of the most powerful men in the country, who enjoys close ties with Iran, told reporters in Samarra, north of Baghdad, that he had no knowledge of the decision and had not been consulted.
“If we need air strikes, we will tell our government...up until now, we don’t,” he said.
For his part, Massoum alluded to the US’s previous reluctance to participate in battles alongside Iranian-supported Shi’ite armed factions and their Iranian advisers.
“If there were any kind of hesitation in the position of the coalition to support the (Iraqi) army and volunteers in Tikrit, it seems now that this sensitivity has ended,” Massoum said.
“Of course, the participation of the coalition will have an impact.”
The start of air strikes would mark the first active participation by the US military and Iranian advisers in the same battle space since US air strikes were carried out last August to help liberate the Shi’ite town of Amerli.
Massoum said the country was not beholden to Iran despite its neighbour’s substantial contribution of weapons and advisers since Islamic State seized large parts of northern and western Iraq last year, imperiling Baghdad.