The strategic Iraqi town of Tikrit could play an "outsized role" in the larger campaign to push back Islamic State (IS) from Iraq and Syria, Iraqi officials and outside analysts said.
Iraq's Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi stressed on the importance of the operation to retake Tikrit by saying that it is "essential to opening a corridor" for Baghdad-aligned forces to move north towards Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the biggest urban stronghold of the terror outfit, reported The Washington Times.
Michael Knights, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who specializes in military and security affairs in the region, weighed in by saying that the strategic Iraqi city mattered operationally because it could be an attack base for the Baghdad-Mosul line of supply.
Knights termed the battle as an urban combat "test run" for Iraqi troops which aim to retake Mosul. He noted, Iraq's Shiite leaders are under pressure to seek retribution against the IS, which is Sunni extremist group, and added that Tikrit and its immediate vicinity were crucial to such retribution.
IS slaughtered some 1,700 Shiite Iraqi air force cadets near the city in June last year, said Knights.
The statements came as Iraqi troops moved into Tikrit on several fronts, pushing back IS militants to the city centre.
The report said that the government forces have witnessed some of the worst urban combat in Iraq since the withdrawal of the U.S. forces more than three years ago.
Nearly 23,000 soldiers are involved in the offensive to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown.
This is the biggest offensive launched by the Iraqi government since the terror group captured large parts of the country last June.
