article_snippet: The US has launched airstrikes against targets in Tikrit to support Iraqi ground forces trying to push ISIS militants out of the city, a senior official said.
article_snippet: An Associated Press correspondent in Tikrit reported hearing warplanes overhead late Wednesday, followed by multiple explosions.
article_snippet: : Smoke rose over Tikrit, where Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias have battled ISIS militants .
article_snippet: In an address to Iraq Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi predicted success in Tikrit but did not say The US was providing airstrikes. '
article_snippet: The US have started the final phase of the operation in Tikrit,' Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.
article_snippet: Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi praised all the groups involved in the battle against the Islamic State group, including the so-called Popular Mobilization Forces, which The US calls Iranian-backed militias, the Sunni tribes and coalition forces.
article_snippet: Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi fell short of confirming that the coalition is playing a direct role in Tikrit.
article_snippet: US airstrikes in Tikrit raise highly sensitive questions about participating in an Iraqi campaign that has been spearheaded by Iraqi Shiite militias trained and equipped by Iran, an avowed US adversary.
article_snippet: Militias like the Imam Ali Brigades, one of whose members is shown, have encircled ISIS forces but have been unable to dislodge ISIS forces from the city .
article_snippet: Iran has provided artillery and other weaponry for the Tikrit battle, and senior Iranian advisers have helped Iraq coordinate the offensive.
article_snippet: Col Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Wednesday ISIS forces have encircled Tikrit but not yet made significant inroads into the heavily defended city limits. '
article_snippet: The US has hundreds of military advisers in Iraq helping Iraq security forces plan operations against the Islamic State, which occupies large chunks of northern and western Iraq.
article_snippet: The US-led air campaign, launched in August and joined by several European allies, has allowed Iraqi forces to halt the ISIS group's advance and claw back some of the territory militants seized last summer.
article_snippet: Militiamen guarding the front line in the battle between Iraqi forces and ISIS militants, a battle which has 'stalled' recently .
article_snippet: The prominent role of the Shiite militias in the fight to retake Tikrit and other parts of Iraq's Sunni heartland has meanwhile raised concerns that the offensive could deepen Iran's sectarian divide and drive Sunnis into the arms of the ISIS group.
article_snippet: A series of US airstrikes north of Tikrit, in the vicinity of Beiji, in recent weeks has had the indirect benefit of tying down ISIS forces that might otherwise be operating in defense of Tikrit.
article_snippet: On Wednesday, for example, the US military said the US military had conducted five airstrikes Tuesday near Beiji, home of a major oil refinery that ISIS has sought to capture.
article_snippet: That bombing targeted ISIS combat units and destroyed what the US called an ISIS 'fighting position,' as well as an ISIS armored vehicle.