Second Battle of Tikrit

Iraqi forces have retaken the Salaheddin provincial government headquarters in Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a significant advance in the battle to recapture the city, officials said March 31.
      

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Baghdad on March 30 for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other top officials.
      
Ban first met President Fuad Masum and Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and was also due to meet parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi before holding talks with Abadi.
      

US and coalition aircraft bombed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists in Tikrit on March 25, lending air power to Iraqi forces who have struggled to recapture the town despite Iranian assistance.
      

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.
      

The United States is concerned about how heavy Iranian weaponry might be used inside Iraq, including as Iran-backed militia help the offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Tikrit from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, a U.S. official said on March 18.
   

Iraq's huge offensive to retake Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is being stalled by bombs planted by the jihadists holding out in the city, a militia spokesman said Tuesday.
      

Iraq needs more airstrikes to dislodge Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants from Tikrit, senior officials said on March 16, as the campaign to retake Saddam Hussein's home city stalled for a fourth day due to homemade bombs and booby traps.
   

Iraqi commanders were plotting a strategy for flushing out the few remaining Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from central Tikrit, a city one commander said on March 14 would be liberated within three days.

On March 9, Iraqi Shiite militias intensified their attack against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant?s (ISIL) positions around Tikrit, around 150 kilometers north of Baghdad, to save Saddam Hussein?s hometown from the hands of jihadists.

Thousands of Iraqi forces have laid siege to jihadists holed up in Tikrit but the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) shrugged off setbacks by welcoming Nigeria's Boko Haram group into its "caliphate".
      
After making major gains in and around the city Wednesday, commanders were confident that Baghdad's biggest victory yet against ISIL was only a matter of time.