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Iraq request for U.S.-led Tikrit air strikes 'imminent': diplomat
Source: Reuters
Iraq request for U.S.-led Tikrit air strikes 'imminent': diplomat
BY RICHARD MABLY, SAMIA NAKHOUL AND NED PARKER
BAGHDAD Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:49am EDT
(Reuters) - Iraq's request to the U.S.-led coalition for air strikes in the campaign to retake Tikrit from Islamic State insurgents is "imminent", a senior diplomat from a Western nation that is part of the coalition told Reuters on Tuesday.
If the coalition accepts the request, it would see by far the biggest collaboration so far against the militants by Iraqi forces, the Iranian-backed paramilitaries and their Iranian advisers on the ground, and the United States and its allies.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Iraq government about the request, which the diplomat said would be positively received. "Once that's happened (that) we have gotten the request, we will do whatever we are asked to do," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The coalition has been absent so far from the Tikrit campaign launched three weeks ago, the largest to be undertaken by the Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias since Islamic State overran a third of the country last year.
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BY RICHARD MABLY, SAMIA NAKHOUL AND NED PARKER
BAGHDAD Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:49am EDT
(Reuters) - Iraq's request to the U.S.-led coalition for air strikes in the campaign to retake Tikrit from Islamic State insurgents is "imminent", a senior diplomat from a Western nation that is part of the coalition told Reuters on Tuesday.
If the coalition accepts the request, it would see by far the biggest collaboration so far against the militants by Iraqi forces, the Iranian-backed paramilitaries and their Iranian advisers on the ground, and the United States and its allies.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Iraq government about the request, which the diplomat said would be positively received. "Once that's happened (that) we have gotten the request, we will do whatever we are asked to do," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The coalition has been absent so far from the Tikrit campaign launched three weeks ago, the largest to be undertaken by the Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias since Islamic State overran a third of the country last year.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/24/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-coalition-idUSKBN0MK0XH20150324
