Iraq has not requested US-led coalition for air support in Tikrit campaign

A senior officer from the U.S.-led coalition stated that Iraq has not requested air support from the coalition in its campaign to retake Tikrit from IS militants.
Some Iraqi officials stated this week that more air strikes are needed to dislodged the insurgents, who are hiding behind complex of palaces built when Saddam Hussein was in power.
The coalition has been conspicuously absent from the campaign -- the largest to be undertaken by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militia groups since Islamic State overran a third of the country last summer.
Senior military official from the coalition stated, "We have not been asked by the Iraqi government to conduct air strikes in Tikrit."
He also added, "We don't conduct any strikes without the request and agreement of the government of Iraq or the Kurdistan Regional Government."
More than 20,000 troops and Shi'ite militiamen are taking part in the offensive, which began more than two weeks ago, supported by a relatively small contingent of Sunni Muslim fighters from Tikrit and the surrounding area.
Iraq’s security forces have made significant advancement in claiming back Tikrit from the ISIL militants. After making, steady progress and liberating few surrounding towns of Tikrit from ISIL, security forces have slowed down a bit.
An Iraqi official said that the security needed a pause in order to receive reinforcements. The senior military official in the coalition said it was "absolutely normal" that Iraqi forces should stop to regroup before a final assault on the Sunni Islamist militants, now cornered in an area bounded by the river Tigris to the east.
The official noted, "I think any force that is here and the government of Iraq uses in the fight against IS (Islamic State) is a good thing."