US 'eye in the sky' aiding Iraq's Tikrit operation

Washington is providing reconnaissance support for Iraqi forces fighting to retake Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an official said March 24, the first confirmation of American involvement in the operation.
      
Such assistance could help Iraqi forces move forward with their largest operation against ISIL jihadists to date, which enjoyed initial success but has since stalled into a siege, with the city surrounded but not retaken.
      
A US-led coalition has targeted ISIL with air strikes and provided training and equipment to Iraqi forces, but had not previously announced direct assistance for the Tikrit operation, in which Iran has played a major role.
      
"The coalition began providing ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) support on March 21, 2015 at the request of the government of Iraq, and the US is now providing that support," a senior coalition military official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
      
The official said that this support is provided in the form of "an eye in the sky".
      
ISIL led a sweeping offensive last June that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad, including Tikrit, the capital of Salaheddin province and executed dictator Saddam Hussein's home town.
      
Iraqi security forces initially fared poorly against ISIL, with multiple divisions collapsing in the north, but have since made major gains against jihadists with the aid of tens of thousands of allied paramilitaries, the US-led coalition and Iran.
      
The operation to retake Tikrit, which involves thousands of Iraqi soldiers, police and forces known as Popular Mobilisation units, which are dominated by Shiite militias, began on March 2.
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