Iraq launches offensive against ISIS to recapture in Tikrit

#ISIS #Tikrit #Mosul #Iraq #HaideralAbadi #Baghdad Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, lies 150-Km north of the capital Baghdad and had been seized by IS militants in June 2014. Iraq has now launched a military offensive against ISIS with the purpose of recapturing the city. This has been reported in bbc.com dated 2 March 2015.
As per reports, Iraqi forces were carrying out the attack backed by airstrikes from Iraqi fighter jets.
It seems Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had met military leaders in Salahuddin province before start of the operation and had offered pardon to all Sunni tribal fighters who abandoned IS. He described it as a "last chance". In February itself he had indicated that Iraqi armed forces would be launching a major offensive "in a few months' time" to retake the city from IS militants.
Observers feel that retaking Tikrit would be a boost to government forces before they undertake the larger battle of retaking the city of Mosul, which is also controlled by IS. While attacks have been launched, there is no confirmation of the advances, if any, made by the forces.
Tikrit, the hometown of former President Saddam Hussein, was the second major gain for IS after they had captured the city of Mosul in June last year. Incidentally, Mosul was home to over a million people when it fell to IS.

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Fear mounts that ISIS have used chemical weapons against Kurds in Kobani

Doctors who are treating injured people of Kobani have discovered wounds that could have resulted from exposure to chemical weapons and there are fears that the ISIS have laid their hands on such weapons theguardian.com.

Patients who have arrived for treatment have blisters, complain of burning eyes apart from breathing difficulties – such symptoms are usually associated with chemical weapons. Moreover, the patients reported a bad smell which also produced allergic reaction.
It is believed that Islamic State (ISIS) have obtained stocks of ageing but still potent chemical weapons when it seized Iraqi army bases where they were stored. It seems in June, ISIS had taken control of a sprawling complex in the heart of Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons program.

Moreover, there are doubts that chemical weapons might have been buried or abandoned elsewhere and had escaped the eyes of the watchdogs and were not destroyed by US forces or the Iraqi military.
Incidentally, stocks manufactured prior to 1991 are dirty, corroded and not always easy to identify or use, but are dangerous and can still cause serious injury.

Do the IS militants have access to chemical weapons?

The IS militants have proved by beheading of innocent US and British persons that they are a bloodthirsty lot and, it now seems that they have access to chemical weapons foxnews.com.

This is an inference that has been drawn from videos that depict dead people with wounds that would end indicate burning of facial muscles through contact with chemicals.
It is not yet established whether these have any link to the chemical weapons of ex-President Saddam Hussein of Iraq or of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria or whether the IS militants have made the weapons themselves by procuring the necessary chemicals.
The video show images of the dead Syrian Kurds with large areas of white, blistered skin apparently having been burned away. And, experts are of the opinion that the chemical weapons were used on July 12, in the village of Avidko, close to Kobani.

This is the Kurdish town on the Turkish border that is now the scene of fierce fighting between Kurds and Islamic State forces.

Britain has sent specialist team to Iraq to tackle the IS fighters

The Ministry of Defense has confirmed that a small specialist team of UK soldiers have been sent to Iraq and are engaged near the front line of the fight between the Islamic State (IS) and Kurdish fighters news.sky.com.

The team is reportedly based near the Kurdish capital of Irbil in the north, and they are believed to be training Peshmerga forces in the use of heavy machine guns that had been supplied to tem by Britain in September.
The specialist soldiers have come from the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, which is based in Cyprus.
It has been explained by a MoD spokeswoman that the intention of the Government is to extend training to the Peshmerga as part of the continued effort to assist in the fight against ISIL (IS). It has also been clarified that the Defense Secretary has approved the deployment of a small specialist team of non-combat Army trainers which is now in the Irbil area providing instruction on operating, employing and maintaining the heavy machine guns that were gifted by the UK last month.

RAF Tornado fighter jets have already been involved in the US-led bombing raids on IS fighters for the past two weeks. Incidentally, British troops had invaded Iraq in March 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein.