Iraq boosted by Russian jets as it pursues counter-attack on ISIL militants
Russian ground attack jets arrive in Iraq to bolster army forces loyal to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in their offensive to retake the ISIL-occupied city of Tikrit
Iraq said it had received the first batch of Sukhoi warplanes from Russia as it pressed a counter-attack on Sunday against Sunni militants whose offensive threatens to tear the country apart.
The arrival of the fighter jets comes with Iraqi forces, backed by aerial cover, pushing to retake the militant-held city of Tikrit and world leaders urging a speeding up of government formation following elections in April.
The newly-purchased Su-25 ground attack jets are expected to be pressed into service as soon as possible, bolstering Iraq’s air power as it combats a sweeping offensive by militants, led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), that has killed more than 1,000 people and sparked a humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands displaced.
But it remains unclear who will fly them – executed dictator Saddam Hussein’s air force had Su-25s, but even if they were both trusted and willing, those pilots are unlikely to have had experience flying the aircraft in more than a decade.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday announced that Baghdad was buying more than a dozen of the warplanes from Russia in a deal that could be worth up to US$500 million.