Promote

The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are capitalizing on the momentum of the breaking of Amerli’s siege by launching an attack on Tikrit.

Between August 29-31 a combined force of the ISF, Iraqi Shi’a militias, and the Peshmerga, broke ISIS’s siege of Amerli in Salah ad-Din province.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told reporters that U.S. airstrikes “have stalled ISIL's momentum” after two weeks of bombarding ISIS positions in Northern Iraq. The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham has not stalled under U.S. pressure. Rather, since the fall of Mosul and despite U.S. airstrikes, the insurgent army has continued a successful and spectacular offensive in Syria. Their gains nearly equal in scale the seizure of northern Iraq in June. The insurgent army’s latest triumph is the capture of Assad’s Tabqa air base in Eastern Syria.

The Iraqi Security Forces supported by volunteers and Iranian-backed militias continue their counteroffensive campaign to relieve ISIS's siege of the isolated Shi ‘a Turkmen town of Amerli.

ISIS conducted five VBIED attacks on Saturday, just one short of the signature VBIED wave that characterized its spectacular attacks before the fall of Mosul.