The Iraqi government received the first batch delivery of Russian-made fighter planes Saturday to help them turn the tide against Sunni rebels who have seized large parts of the country, BBC News reported. After a string of violent attacks over the past three weeks, insurgents have taken control of large parts of Iraq's north and the west.
Five Sukhoi-25 jets, which were purchased second-hand from Russia, arrived in Baghdad on Saturday and would enter service in "three to four days" since the Iraqis require additional parts and technical help to make them operational, Iraqi security officials confirmed. Pictures released by the defense ministry showed the jets taxiing on a runway towards a hangar.
The deal with Russia "was aimed at increasing the firepower of the air force and the rest of the armed forces in order to fight terrorism," Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, told the BBC last week, adding that his government had signed a deal with Russia and Belarus to supply jet fighters allegedly worth up to $500 million.
Meanwhile, the army's aircraft bolstering efforts are being counted on to retake territory seized by Sunni militants, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), earlier this month, with the government claiming to have retaken the city of Tikrit, the mainly Sunni hometown of former leader Saddam Hussein, on Saturday, Al Jazeera reported. However, rebels have disputed this contention.
The decision to buy jets from Russia was a snub to the United States, who had promised fighters to the Iraqis, Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reported, adding that Iraq's government was frustrated by delays with their delivery. Although the U.S. has confirmed its presence through flight of armed drones for protection of U.S. personnel on the Iraq ground, the 300 military personnel sent to aid the government are not directly involved in the hostilities.
"The rebel surge in northern and western Iraq has thrown the country into its deepest crisis since U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011, and threatens to divide the country in three along sectarian and ethnic lines," according to Al Jazeera. If the help of the fighter jets prove to be successful, the Tikrit operation could help restore a degree of faith in the security forces.
