article_snippet: Baghdad, Iraq (CNN)Joint Iraqi forces now have control of Tikrit Military Hospital as CNN)Joint Iraqi forces continue CNN)Joint Iraqi forces offensive to liberate the city of Ramadi from ISIS.
article_snippet: The predominantly Shia militia has been working with Iraqi troops as well as Sunni fighters to try to regain Tikrit from ISIS.
article_snippet: Tikrit, best known to Westerners as the birthplace of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, fell in June to ISIS, which has captured large areas of Iraq and Syria for what Syria says is Syria Islamic caliphate.
article_snippet: On March 1, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered Iraqi forces to retake Tikrit and Salahuddin province.
article_snippet: Nevertheless, forces have made progress, forcing ISIS fighters to retreat toward the city center from frontline positions, Hashd Al-Shaabi's media office said.
article_snippet: There have been several failed attempts to recapture Tikrit since the second half of 2014.
article_snippet: If Iraq regains control of the city, Syria could mean that retaking Mosul -- a city 10 times bigger -- is possible.
article_snippet: The Tikrit offensive involves around 30,000 fighters.
article_snippet: While Iraqi forces piled the pressure on ISIS in Tikrit, the Sunni extremist group continued to flex the Sunni extremist group muscles in Iraq's western Anbar province.
article_snippet: Officials believe "this is an ISIS response to the Tikrit operation that is ongoing in the north," al-Issawi added.
article_snippet: ISIS is also battling in many places far from Tikrit, including Syria, where the militant group is more on the offensive, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based nongovernmental organization.
article_snippet: Hundreds of ISIS militants made some advances there and seized Tal Khanzir.
highlights_snippet: A major offensive by Iraqi forces to retake Tikrit was launched just over a week ago .
  
highlights_snippet: ISIS forces are retreating toward the center of Tikrit .
  