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- Islamic State Bulldozes Remains of Ancient Cities of Hatra and Nimrud
- Tikrit Offensive: Iraqi Forces Try to Push Islamic State Out of Town on Southern Outskirts
Iraqi government forces and allied tribal militia have defeated the Islamic State and retaken the town of Al-Baghdadi in Anbar Province in western Iraq, the US military said Friday.
Islamic State fighters captured Al-Baghdadi, on the Euphrates River, in February. The advance put the jihadists near the al-Asad airbase where American forces train Iraqi counterparts.
“Iraqi security forces and tribal fighters from the Anbar region have successfully cleared Al-Baghdadi of Islamic State, retaking both the police station and three Euphrates River bridges,” a statement declared.
The headquarters of the US-led aerial coalition said it had ordered 26 airstrikes around Al-Baghdadi since February 22.
US ground forces were not directly employed in the battle, but “the coalition supported the operation with surveillance assets and advise and assist teams” attached to Iraqi headquarters units.
Islamic State Bulldozes Remains of Ancient Cities of Hatra and Nimrud
Islamic State fighters have bulldozed the remains of the 2,000-year-old city of Hatra in northern Iraq, according to officials.
An official said the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry had received reports from its employees in the jihadist-controlled city of Mosul.
A nearby resident said he heard a powerful explosion early on Saturday from the area.
Earlier this week the Islamic bulldozed the ancient Assyrian archaeological site of Nimrud, south of Mosul.
The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO condemned the action as “cultural cleansing” and said they amounted to war crimes.
The jihadists also released a video last week show the smashing of statues and carvings in Mosul’s museum, which housed Assyrian and Hellenistic artefacts dating back 3,000 years. The Islamic State fighters said valuing the antiquties was “idolatry”.
Hatra was part of the Seleucid empire, which controlled a large part of the ancient world conquered by Alexander the Great.
Tikrit Offensive: Iraqi Forces Try to Push Islamic State Out of Town on Southern Outskirts
Pursuing their offensive to reclaim the city of Tikrit from the Islamic State, Iraqi Government forces and mainly-Shia militia entered a town on the southern outskirts on Friday.
Military commanders said the army and militia had retaken al-Dour, but some officials said troops were only in the south and east of the town, which had been rigged with bombs by retreating Islamic State fighters.
Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Shia militia Badr Brigades, said that al-Dour had been “totally liberated” and that the advance on al-Alam, north of Tikrit, would begin on Saturday.
The offensive, reportedly the largest since the Islamic State swept through northern and eastern Iraq last spring and summer, began last weekend. It is hoping to retake Tikrit, with a population of about 260,000, which quickly fell to the jihadists in June.
Tikrit is well-known as the hometown of the late dictator Saddam Hussein. Officials said on Friday that they had captured a farm to the east of Tikrit that belonged to Saddam’s deputy Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, now an ally of the Islamic State.
