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Iraq: Is the Battle of Amerli a Turning Point?
http://www.juancole.com/2014/08/battle-amerli-turning.htmlIraq: Is the Battle of Amerli a Turning Point?
By Juan Cole | Aug. 31, 2014
The Iraqi military is maintaining that it has successfully relieved the town of Amerli (pop. 15,000) in northern Iraq from a siege by ISIL (the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). If true, this is the first success of the Baghdad military against ISIL since Mosul fell in early June. Repeated attempts to move up from Samarra and take Tikrit have failed. But the operation in Amerli is said to have pushed ISIL back into the western desert.
Units of the Kurdish Peshmerga paramilitary also fought in the operation, as did Shiite militiamen. Amerli lies about 100 miles northeast of Baghdad.
According to al-Arabiya, Iraqi military spokesman Qasim Ata said Sunday morning that the Iraqi army had entered Amerli and broken the ISIL siege of the Turkmen Shiite town.
He said that the army had entered Amerli from the southern village of Habash, and that a further three columns were converging on the town from other directions, amid heavy fighting.
