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Iraqs military has launched what it calls a major offensive to recapture Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit from ISIS, but U.S. officials say there has been no coordination from the U.S. nor any requests for coalition airstrikes to support the operation.

On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Al Abadi announced that the Iraqi military had launched a major operation to recapture the northern province of Saladin from ISIS. Tikrit is located 80 miles north of Baghdad and was seized by ISIS fighters last summer shortly after ISIS had taken over Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city.

An Iraqi military spokesman told ABC News Monday that ISIS fighters were retreating from some areas in the province that had come under attack by Iraqi military forces. However, those claims could not be independently verified.

Iraqi state television reported that a large Iraqi military force had pushed into Saladin Province accompanied by Shiite and Sunni fighters and supported by Iraqi fighter jets. There have been unverified reports that the combined Iraqi force numbers as many as 30,000 Iraqi troops and militia fighters.

A U.S. official told ABC News that this appears to be more of a tactical operation and that Iraqi military elements involved do not appear to be well-coordinated.

"We were aware of the operation before it started, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters Monday. But Im not going to details about what degree of coordination was involved in this."

Another U.S. official said that the U.S. began monitoring Iraqi troop movements in the area last week, though it remains unclear how much advance information Iraq provided to American military officials.

Warren said U.S. and coalition aircraft are not providing airstrikes in support of the operation since Iraq did not request air support. A U.S. official told ABC News that the Iraqi Air Force and Army aviation are providing Iraqi troops with air cover for the operation.

Warren said the U.S. military mission in Iraq is to advise and assist Iraq's military in their fight against ISIS, but Iraq that decides the level of cooperation it wants.

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Iraq Didn't Request U.S. Help in Offensive on Tikrit

Iraq launched its largest counteroffensive yet against the self-declared Islamic State Monday, the government in Baghdad said, in an effort to retake the city of Tikrit from the group. But while the move is militarily necessary, it implicitly risks further damage to Iraq's sectarian divide, with Shiite militias forming the backbone of the campaign in the mostly Sunni region.

Iraq is sending some 30,000 troops, primarily volunteer Shiite militias backing Iraqi Army forces, against Tikrit, which fell to IS last June. The offensive was officially announced Sunday, during Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's visit to the government-held city of Samarra, about 25 miles south of Tikrit.

France 24 reports that the Iraqi military is attacking Tikrit from both north and south: A government-held base north of Tikrit began bombarding the city Monday, while another force began moving up from Samarra toward the town of al-Dour, an IS stronghold just outside Tikrit. The offensive is backed by Iraqi government air support. The New York Times notes that it is not clear whether the US-backed coalition that has been bombing IS positions since August is also involved.

The Times reports that Tikrit, militarily, is considered a stepping stone toward the key goal: an assault on Mosul, the northern Iraqi city that has become the de facto capital of IS-held territory in Iraq. Mosul is Iraq's second largest city. It fell to IS forces last June. "Success in Tikrit could push up the timetable for a Mosul campaign," the Times writes, "while failure would most likely mean more delays."

The American military, though, appears divided on the question of when the Iraqi military which collapsed last summer in the face of the Islamic State onslaught would be ready for a wide-scale offensive in Mosul, or in Anbar Province in the west of the country, which is also in the hands of militants.

In recent weeks, some American military officials have suggested that an offensive in Mosul could begin as early as April. But that angered Iraqi officials, who oppose having Americans dictate a timetable for the Iraqi military and object to publicizing any military plans. More recent news reports suggested that other American officials believe the Iraqi military is unprepared for a Mosul offensive so soon, and that one might not begin until the fall.

Regardless of the implications for a Mosul campaign, the Tikrit operation could have a profound impact on Iraq's sectarian divides. Tikrit, the birthplace of former President Saddam Hussein, is a staunchly Sunni city. When IS captured it last year, the militants drew support from Sunni militias in the city who were frustrated over then Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's uncompromising Shiite government. Though Mr. Maliki was ultimately replaced by Mr. Abadi, who publicly accepted US demands for a more inclusive Iraqi leadership, many Sunnis remain suspicious of the still strongly Shiite government.

Abadi, in the run-up to the Tikrit offensive, offered an amnesty to any Sunni group that had supported IS if they abandoned the militants now. I call upon those who have been misled or committed a mistake to lay down arms and join their people and security forces in order to liberate their cities, he said Sunday in Samarra, adding that it was the "last chance" for Sunni militias to recant before the city was "return[ed] to its people," the Associated Press reports.

But the government forces attacking Tikrit and its surrounding region of Salahuddin are made primarily of "thousands of Shia fighters, drawn from an array of militias now rebranded the 'Hashid Shaabi', or 'Popular Mobilisation,'" writes David Blair of the Daily Telegraph. This raises the stakes at Tikrit even beyond the military risks, he argues.

First and foremost, the Shia units may struggle to hold any territory they recapture from [IS]. Even if they do retain this ground, their very presence may serve to deepen the alienation of the Sunni inhabitants of Salahuddin.

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Battle for Tikrit: To recapture Sunni city, Iraq sends mostly Shiite force (+video)

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Iraq's prime minister called on Sunni tribal fighters to abandon the Islamic State group Sunday, ahead of a promised offensive to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown from the extremists.

Haider al-Abadi offered no timeline for an attack on Tikrit, the hometown of the late Iraqi dictator some 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad that fell into the hands of the Islamic State group last summer. However, Shiite militias and Iraqi security forces have stationed themselves around Tikrit as state-run media has warned that the city "will soon return to its people."

But sending Shiite militias into the Sunni city of Tikrit, the capital of Iraq's Salahuddin province, could reprise the bloody, street-by-street insurgent battles that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. On Saturday, two suicide car bombers killed 16 nearby Shiite militiamen and wounded 31.

Al-Abadi offered what he called "the last chance" for Sunni tribal fighters, promising them a pardon during a news conference in Samarra, 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad. His office said he arrived in Samarra to "supervise the operation to liberate Tikrit from the terrorist gangs."

"I call upon those who have been misled or committed a mistake to lay down arms and join their people and security forces in order to liberate their cities," al-Abadi said.

Al-Abadi said the operation will see troops come from several directions, but he declined to give an exact time for the operation's start. However, his presence in Samarra suggests it could come soon.

The Iraqi military previously launched an operation in late June to try to wrest back control of Tikrit, but that quickly stalled after making little headway. Other planned offensives by Iraq's military, which collapsed under the initial Islamic State group blitz, also have failed to make up ground, though soldiers have taken back the nearby refinery town of Beiji.

Tikrit, which occasionally saw attacks on U.S. forces during the American occupation of the country, is one of the biggest cities held by the Islamic State group. It also sits on the road to Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, which is also held by the extremists. Any operation to take Mosul likely would require Iraq to seize Tikrit first.

Al-Abadi's comments appear to be targeting former members of Iraq's outlawed Baath party, loyalists to Saddam Hussein, who joined the Islamic State group during its offensive, as well as other Sunnis who were dissatisfied with Baghdad's Shiite-led government. The premier likely hopes to peel away some support from the Islamic State group, especially as Iraqis grow increasingly horrified by the extremists' mass killings and other atrocities.

In February alone, violence across Iraq killed at least 1,100 Iraqis, including more than 600 civilians, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq said Sunday.

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