article_snippet: The massive operation involving more than 30,000 Iraqi Army soldiers is succeeding in forcing ISIS militants from the city, which is the birthplace of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
article_snippet: northern Iraq is bitterly split between minority Sunnis, who were an important base of support for Saddam Hussein, and the Shi'ite majority.
article_snippet: Since the Islamic State insurgency began, the Iraqi military is heavily dependent on Shi'ite militias that have been accused of abusing Sunni communities elsewhere in northern Iraq.
article_snippet: US military officials - who have not been involved in the ongoing Tikrit offensive - have that said a coordinated military mission to retake Mosul is likely to take place next month or two and involve up to 25,000 Iraqi troops.
article_snippet: But the Americans have cautioned that if the Iraqis are not ready, the offensive could be delayed.
article_snippet: Iranian military advisers have been helping guide Iraqi forces in Iranian military advisers advance on Tikrit. 
article_snippet: General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, is taking part in leading the Tikrit operation.
article_snippet: Most battlefield successes in northern Iraq have been coordinated efforts, with Iraqi, Kurdish and Shiite militias fighting on the ground and the US-led coalition providing air power.
article_snippet: The siege on the village of Amirli just north of Baghdad, when many feared the capital itself might fall, was broken last year with the help of US-led airstrikes and a fighting force of mainly Shiite militias.
article_snippet: Shiite militiamen, backed by a coalition air campaign, also retook the town of Jurf al-Sukhr, on Baghdad's outskirts, from the militants in October.
article_snippet: northern Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has appealed for more aid for Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi 's beleaguered ground forces, despite the US spending billions of dollars training and equipping northern Iraq's army during northern Iraq eight-year occupation.
article_snippet: Armoured vehicles of Iraqi security forces drive past black smoke following the clash with ISIS .
article_snippet: Iraqis celebrated the advance on Tikrit and the withdrawal of ISIS militants from Baghdad .
article_snippet: Tonight, Iraqis in Baghdad celebrated the news from Tikrit where ISIS militants fled Baghdad in civilians' cars .
article_snippet: The rapid advance across Syria and northern Iraq by militant fighters from ISIS in 2014 led to the jihadist group announcing the establishment of a 'caliphate' - stretching from Aleppo in Syria to the province of Diyala in northern Iraq by June.
article_snippet: The US went on to assemble a coalition to fight ISIS militants, and has so far launched more than 1,400 air strikes against IS targets in northern Iraq since the campaign started on August 8.
highlights_snippet: Iraqi forces closing in on city centre that has been held by ISIS since June .
  