Namibia. The iraqi Army Launched an offensive to retake Sadaam Husseins hometown of tikrit. A force of 20,000 militia understand and sunni tribes are push fighting to push ice oil out north of the capital of baghdad. Today, god willing, we will start and important military campaign to liberate the citizens of the province from Islamic State militants. I call upon you to deal with the citizens well. We should protect the citizens and their properties. Prime minister abaddi this afternoon is Briefing Members of parliament on how that operation is going. It has a huge political component. Iraqi military Officials Say theyve launched a threepronged offensive, theyre no longer on the defensive, coming from the south, north and west of tikrit. Tikrit is the first big city the first really big test that iraqi forces face, and part of the reason its such a test is that it is a major sunni center. Its Sadaam Husseins hometown. In the past few hours military Officials Say they have retaken the t
Saudi arabia Ground Troops have been deployed in yemens port city of aden to support forces of Abdrabbu Mansour hadi. We joined live on the phone. It was just a few days ago that the saudi government announced the campaign was entering a new phase, was this phase expect . Yes, there is an element of surprise in this. They havent been showing a lot of prepares to really be on the ground in yemen. We have seen them amassing troops on the boarder for the last several weeks. This is a surprise to many people. Many inside and outside. It is a force that has been deployed is limited. We dont know if it is made of saudis or other counties, we know that the egyptian president has been here for a new hours. Also for a surprise just. And there was that was revealed about the intentions. Egypt has the biggest contribution outside of saudi arabia. Thats where it was talked about at the beginning of the campaign. Surprise beginning and que dont know how big theyll come to that. Etch was expecting t
Also coming up on the program, european boats save another 2500 from drowning in the mediterranean. And i was the better fighter. And the most expensive bout in history. First suicide car bomb detonated near restaurants and cafes full of customers. The second in the same neighborhood. Baghdad has seen a spate of bombings in the last couple of days. Near restaurants and shops in baghdads shia neighborhood of paladea. Killing five people, another car bomb near an ice cream shop killed four people in the shia neighborhood of shirea, and another killed seven people, and south of baghdad a bomb blast near a cafe killed three people. Baghdad provinceial leader is blaming dislaced sunnies for those conducting the wave bombings. This is what he says, that there is a link between the recent attacks in baghdad and the displaced peams. Wellpeoples, well have more. Coalition forces of rebel groups backed by turkey qatar and saudi arabia had been making gains if the conflict. Syria last september a
What you all deserve. Lisa hill, robin and reminder of our top stories because global velocity of the soviet union has died at the age of 91. Gorbachev presided over the end of the cold war and the lifting of Eastern Europe on current and, but failed to prevent the collapse of the u. S. S. All russian television. And the news of his death president Vladimir Putin had expressed his deepest condolences that says that hell be sending messages to his family and friends. The un secretary general lead global tributes to mccallegh overture until you get arish called him a towering leader. While the European Commission president , as the on the land call him a trusted and respected statesman out there is rob reynolds has interviewed because gorbachev here came mikhail gorbachev. A member of a new generation and not of the old communist who had lived and worked under stalin, but of a different generation. More of a technocrat, more of a man with ideas. And he did have ideas about how to change