简体中文
The liberation of Salahudin's provincial capital city of Tikrit weakened the Islamic State (IS) militant group, but heavy and bloody battles are widely expected to free Iraq's largest province of Anbar and Mosul in the north.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared earlier on Tuesday the liberation of Tikrit, some 170 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, after about month-long battles with the IS militants when some 30,000 Iraqi troops and thousands of allied Shiite and Sunni militias have been involved in Iraq's biggest offensive to recapture the northern part of Salahudin province, including Tikrit and other key towns and villages, from IS militant.
"The capture of Tikrit is a major blow to the IS group, but this is not the final blow. By now it is only a matter of time to retake control of all the Salahudin province," Brigadier General Abdullah al-Jubouri, a military expert, told Xinhua.
Jubouri insisted that the IS militants have not sustained heavy casualties in Tikrit battle, because the group has withdrawn large part of its fighters and heavy weapons toward Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
"Daash (IS in Arabic) still has the ability for heavy fighting, but liberating Tikrit has weakened the group's spirit of triumph which it gained since the IS blitzkrieg in the Sunni provinces in June last year," he said.
"The defeat of IS militants in Tikrit has changed the rules of battles, because the extremist militants realize now that they are fighting different kind of security members; they are trained, willing to fight, well equipped," Jubouri said.
"Moreover, the IS realized that their suicide attacks, defensive lines, roadside bombs and booby-trapped buildings are not enough to protect them from the security forces," he added.
Liberation of Tikrit and later the remaining areas in northern the province would prevent the extremist militants from using their supply routes between the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Anbar and Nineveh, as Salahudin is in the middle of all these provinces.
"It will decrease the group's maneuverability to transfer its militants and weapons from any province to another, and that would pave the way to liberate other provinces," Hubouri said.
Tikrit liberation is also important for hundreds of thousands of displaced Sunni families who left their homes after the IS militants seized their towns in Salahudin province.
"It is really a dream that come true when those who left their homes could return and it is a hope of hundreds of thousands of other displaced Iraqis that their return to their homes is getting closer," Sabah al-Sheikh, a professor in politics at Baghdad University, told Xinhua.
In addition, the victory in Tikrit is a move toward national reconciliation when bringing the Shiite young men and the Sunni tribesmen together to fight a brutal enemy and would close the ranks of both Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities and let the Sunnis feel that they are no more disenfranchised by the Shiite-led government.
"This (Tikrit liberation) is substantial for the unity of the Iraqi society as long as both Sunnis and Shiites will be unified in fighting one enemy," al-Sheikh said.
Al-Sheikh was referring to the grievances of the Sunni Arabs who carried out wide-spread and regular protests since December 2012, complaining about injustice, marginalization, discrimination, double standards and politicization of the judicial system.
They also accused the Shiite-dominated security forces of indiscriminately arresting, torturing and killing their sons.
The deep division in the Iraqi society created a favorable atmosphere for the extremist groups, including the IS, to gain support from the angry citizens.
The next move of the Iraqi security forces would be the Sunni heartland of Anbar province in western Iraq, before heading to Mosul in the north.
On March 18, the Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said "we won't launch the operation to liberate Mosul (capital of northern province of Nineveh) unless securing Anbar (province)."
Obeidi's comments came to highlight the priorities of the Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, as he emphasized on the significance of Mosul to Iraqis, the country's second largest city, saying that his troops focused on the Sunni heartland of Anbar in western Iraq.
Obeidi said the timing for Mosul battle is "very delicate and sensitive because it is very important for the history of the Iraqi army and for all Iraqis as well."
He also revealed that some intelligence reports said the IS militants are making some defensive measures around Mosul, about 400 km north of Baghdad, preparing for the fierce battles in the city.
