| The city of Samarra, which lies south of Tikrit along the Tigris, is also strategically and symbolically important to the Sunni insurgency, evidenced by the February 2006 and June 2007 attacks on the Golden Mosque, a highly revered Shiite shrine in Samarra | Coalition and Iraqi forces have conducted frequent intelligence-driven raids, seeking to deny sanctuary to AQI insurgents and to further disrupt lines of communication, supply, and foreign terrorist movement in these areas |
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| The cities in Salah ad-Din, a predominantly Sunni province, have also formed important nodes on the AQI communication lines | Indeed, AQI has used oil diverted from the refinery as source of funding |
| and Iraqi Forces conducted a number of operations in the cities along the upper Tigris River Valley targeting AQI leaders, facilitators, and financiers | |
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| Therefore, the Tigris River Valley has functioned as a primary line of communication, supply, and foreign terrorist facilitation for the Sunni insurgency and, in particular, | A major highway, Main Supply Route Tampa, also runs from the Syrian border, through , and down along the Tigris River and aforementioned cities into Baghdad |
The presence of Coalition Forces along the Tigris River Valley in Salah ad Din province is characterized by an economy of force.
26| The tempo of operations in the cities of the Tigris River Valley north of Baghdad increased in late 2007 during , the follow-on to Phantom Thunder | Hence, the area has remained a hotbed of Sunni insurgent activity |
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| AQI has used the areas along the Tigris River Valley as support zones for the insurgency | South of Bayji, Tikrit has traditionally been a stronghold of insurgent activities, as it was the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein |