Iraqi forces, militias sweep into Islamic State-held Tikrit

The terrorists are seizing the cars of civilians trying to leave the city and they are trying to make a getaway...

Again, well done to the Iraqi and supporting forces. I hope ISIS will be pushed back into that cesspit called Syria, then eradicated.

How long this lasts depends on how the Sunnis are treated by the Shiite government in Baghdad. I would not open the champagne yet.

All the people ranting about the evil of ISIS forget that this is fundamentally a Sunni liberation movement. Without broad support from the population, ISIS would not have come this far.

No. Handing over Iraq to a Shiite Mullah dictatorship is not a good idea.

Syria is a different issue. The Assad family are Alevites and represent a modern, secular branch of Shiism. Under Assad, minorities were protected. That Assad sides with Iran is simply a strategic decision. And that Western politicians are still supporting the Sunni jihandis who want to depose Assad is the height of insanity.

WilliB, I'm pretty sure most of the Sunnis living in Mosul don't feel particularly "liberated" right at the moment.

frontcenter:

Once again, to point out the obvious: Without popular support, ISIS could not survive. I guess you never asked yourself why ISIS territory covers precisely the Sunni areas of Iraq. ISIS has not managed to get into Shia areas and has pretty much been driven out of the Kurdish areas. That is not a by random chance.

Islamic State heads will roll for this setback!

Like my former operations officer used to say "Take no prisoners". Meaning: Kill them all.

Good.

This sure sounds like good news, but FOR HOW LONG???

@frontandcentre, I'm thinking they finally got a taste of the extremism that they've been supportive of for so long and hopefully it might have caused a lot of them to come to their senses. But there are no guarantees.

I think you'll find that IS filled a power vacuum, and that most of the "subjects" of this joke caliphate have no choice but to live under it.

credit to Iran, hopefully this will lead a way all teh way ro Syria an another Iranian ally