Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


      Iraq Army Presses Tikrit Attack as Extremists Declare Islamic State

   by VOA News

   Iraqi warplanes carried out airstrikes overnight on the northern city
   of Tikrit as they battle to regain control from Sunni militants who
   have declared the formation of an Islamic state across areas of Iraq
   and Syria.

   Fighting continued Monday in Tikrit, one of several cities where
   militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took
   control in a surge beginning in early June.

   On Sunday, ISIL declared in an audio statement posted online that its
   chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is the leader of a new caliphate - a
   historical term to denote a sovereign state for the Muslim faithful.
   The term was last widely recognized to describe the government of the
   Ottoman Empire, which fell after World War I.

   ISIL was once al-Qaida's affiliate in Iraq, but the terror group's
   leaders disowned ISIL early this year for its desire to carve out a
   caliphate and refusing to obey orders.

   Al-Qaida's official affiliate in Syria joined in January with Islamist
   and mainstream Syrian rebels to drive ISIL fighters from the key
   northern city of Aleppo and several border towns.

   Military officials say the main ground operation near Tikrit started
   Saturday with heavy fighting between ISIL rebels and Iraqi special
   forces, as Iraqi gunships and armor attacked from the south.

   The United States sent 300 military personnel to Iraq earlier this
   month to strengthen government security forces and help establish joint
   operation centers to combat the far-reaching Sunni offensive. U.S.
   advisers are also flying armed drones in Iraqi airspace to protect the
   U.S. contingent.

   Separately Sunday, as militants push to alter the region's geopolitical
   boundaries, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for Iraqi
   Kurdish statehood. Netanyahu made the comments during a speech to a Tel
   Aviv think tank.

   Iraqi Kurds have long-voiced aspirations for independence, while
   conceding that the goal is not realistic in the region's current state
   of upheaval.

   Neighboring Turkey, with its own large minority Kurd population, and
   Western governments remain opposed the breakup of Iraq.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/iraq-army-presses-tikirt-attack-extre
   mists-declare-islamic-state/1947506.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/iraq-army-presses-tikirt-attack-extremists-declare-islamic-state/1947506.html