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The Government of PM Abadi and the local Anbari Government are embarking on a major undertaking to recapture areas of Anbar Province that fell out of government control in early 2014.
The contest to reverse ISIS’s territorial gains in Iraq is escalating.
The city center of Tikrit has been recaptured by the ISF and allied forces with the support of coalition airstrikes.
ISIS lost control over central Tikrit following an offensive by the ISF and allied forces with the support of coalition airstrikes. Tikrit was announced captured by the government on April 1, 2015, and PM Abadi, ISF commanders, and local government officials have toured the city center. Since that time, clashes have not been reported in the city and reports that looting of homes is taking place further indicates that combat operations in Tikrit have ceased. The areas immediately surrounding Tikrit likely remain an ISIS attack zone, however.
The recent capture of Tikrit with U.S. air support and the absence of Iraqi Shi'a militias has undermined Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi’a militias’ reputation as indispensable allies to the ISF and the government.
Pro-Russian forces may be positioning themselves to launch surprise offensive maneuvers. An indication from international monitors that Ukrainian forces no longer occupy the southern village of Shyrokyne suggests that the Russian-backed separatists have made gains in the Mariupol area despite the ceasefire.
The ISF and allied forces have reached and cleared the areas of Tikrit where ISIS was believed to be the most thoroughly entrenched.
JN and Rebel Forces Seize Provincial Capital in Idlib, Militia Headquarters in Dera’a: JN and rebel forces made two crucial gains against regime forces that threaten the continued viability of the regime’s Syria-wide war effort in 2015.
Rebel forces participating in the “Jaysh al-Fatah Operations Room” led by al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) seized the city of Idlib on March 28, 2015, following a four day offensive.
