Operation Featherweight: Month 8, Week 3, Day 2.

Last Thursday (12/3/15) I announced that the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) had completely liberated the city of Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). At the time I felt this was a little optimistic but from the great information black-hole that is Tikrit all the reports I was getting said that it was true and I wasn't getting any reports that it wasn't.

It turns out that my first instinct was correct and a small pocket of ISIL fighters remain holed up on the presidential palace compound close to the city centre. Dating back to the rule of Saddam Hussein the presidential palace is effectively a fortress where Saddam and his guards would stay whilst visiting his home town.

Therefore I'm beginning to wonder whether it might be worth strong-pointing the palace compound with tanks while the ISF concentrate on removing the landmines and chlorine gas laced Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's) that ISIL have left littering the city. After all following a few days of siege conditions the ISIL fighters in the palace are likely to be less able to mount a defence.

One of the main reasons why liberation of Tikrit has been so easy despite this small delay is that a large proportion of ISIL forces in the city fled to the area around the town of al-Hawaija which sits around 85km (50 miles) north of Tikrit. From there ISIL hoped to be able sweep back into Tikrit once the bulk of the liberation force had left.

Fortunately the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga were wise to this plan and launched an operation from Kirkuk to secure a large swathe of territory to the south of al-Hawaija. After securing an area of the al-Hawaija district that includes the the villages of Sakhra, Wadi Naft and Sada along with some strategically important open areas and portions of the main Kirkuk-Tikrit road the Peshmerga have continued to advance. They have now established a solid front-line including artillery positions just 18km (11 miles) from the centre of al-Hawaija itself. As a result it seems unlikely that ISIL will be sweeping back into Tikrit or into the local oil-fields any time soon.

The Peshmerga have also been providing artillery support to one of the militias of the ISF that have been trying to liberate the village of Bashir/Besiir Kasabasi that sits around 25-35km (15-20 miles) to the south of Kirkuk. Despite fierce resistance from ISIL the ISF have been making progress and Saturday (14/3/15) they made the grim discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of local Turkmen who had been massacred when ISIL first seized control of the village.

Most of ISIL's frustrations at losing Tikrit and the area between it and Kirkuk seem to be being taken out on the Kurdish Cizire Canton in north-eastern Syria and the Kurdish People's Protection units (YPG). It now seems that ISIL are launching a sustained and co-ordinated offensive against the western and southern boundaries of the canton focusing specifically of the town of Tell Tamr to the south and the town of Serekanyie/Ras al-Ayn to the west.

The town of Tell Tamr is of strategic importance because it sits at a junction of roads that links a series of YPG controlled villages surrounding the city of al-Hasakah control of which is disputed between ISIL and the YPG. Therefore if ISIL are able to seize control of Tell Tamr they will cut the YPG's supply lines into al-Hasakah making it much easier for ISIL to seize control of the city which has become a safe-haven for a significant number of Syria's religious minorities including Assyrian Christians.

Although it was proceeded by a series of commando-style raids the ISIL operation to captured Tell Tamr really began 10 days ago on Thursday March 5th (5/3/15). So far it has claimed the lives of 22 YPG fighters including two foreign nationals and ISIL are currently said to be in the village of Tell Nasri which is just 500metres/yards outside of Tell Tamr. However it was only on this Friday (13/3/15) that the YPG received support from the US-led coalition in the form of air-strikes. Curiously though the coalition is so far refusing to confirm these air-strikes let alone provide details.

The town of Serekanyie is even more strategically important because much like Kobane in the Kobane Canton it sits right on the border with Turkey and shares a border crossing with the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar. Therefore if ISIL were able to capture Serekanyie they would control the main highway between the Turkish border and the city of al-Hasakah and from there the routes to their Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

Although they have today announced that they've stopped two UK teenagers from crossing into Syria to join ISIL I for one doubt that Turkey would be able to secure the border with Ceylanpinar should ISIL take control of Serekanyie. In fact the Turks have frequently said that their border with Syria is far too long for them to control.

Therefore I would think that it would be a high priority of the coalition to make sure that ISIL are not able to seize control of Serekanyie. The best way to do this would be to carry out air-strikes against the ISIL forces that are attacking the town and air-strikes against ISIL positions in the near-by town of Tell Abayd from were the offensive is being launched.

Sadly the coalition seems to disagree and have only carried out a single air-strike which was last Sunday's (8/3/15) strike in Tell Abayd. This destroyed an ISIL oil refinery which is hardly a high value military target.

More details have also begun to emerge of ISIL's assault on Ramadi in Iraq's Anbar province last Wednesday (11/3/15). Although hardly a serious attempt to seize territory this offensive seems to have been particularly bruising. Not only did ISIL unleash 17 Vehicle Borne IED's (VBIED's)  against the ISF they also succeeded in killing 40 ISF soldiers on a single strike against ISF headquarters in the city.

Apparently this attack was prepared by ISIL digging a lengthy tunnel under the building and packing it with explosives that were detonated in a huge explosion. This has actually been a common tactic for ISIL in Syria including an attack on the airforce intelligence HQ in Damascus that produced an explosion so huge it registered as an earthquake.

However alongside ISIL's use of Mustard and Chlorine gas is now considered widespread and systemic in both Syria and Iraq this sort of trench warfare tactic of tunnelling serves to underline just how much like the First World War this conflict has become.

17:45 on 15/3/15 (UK date).