Pentagon: 'No Iraq Request for Coalition Air Support in Tikrit'

(MENAFN- QNA) Iraq has not requested air support from the U.S.-led coalition for its campaign to retake Tikrit , a senior military official in the coalition said.

A Pentagon spokesman said Iraqi forces essentially had Tikrit encircled but did not appear to have progressed as far in their operation to retake the city. "We have not been asked by the Iraqi government to conduct air strikes in Tikrit," said the senior military official in the coalition. " "We don't conduct any strikes without the request and agreement of the government of Iraq or the Kurdistan Regional Government," he went on saying.