Tikrit (1962: The Apocalypse)

Tikrit (Arabic: تكريت‎ Tikrīt also transliterated as Takrit or Tekrit, Classical Syriac: ܬܓܪܝܬ Tagriṯ) is a city in Iraq, located 140 km northwest of Baghdad on the Tigris River (at 34.61°N, 43.68°E). The town, with an estimated population in 2002 of about 260,000 is the administrative center of the Salah ad Din Governorate.

n the opening weeks of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, many observers speculated that Saddam would return to Tikrit as his "last stronghold". The city was subjected to intense aerial bombardment meant to throw Saddam's elite Republican Guard troops out of the city. On April 13, 2003 several thousand U.S. Marines and other coalition members aboard 300 armored vehicles converged on the town, meeting little or no resistance. With the fall of Tikrit, U.S. Army Major General Stanley McChrystal said, "I would anticipate that the major combat operations are over."

The Saddam Hussein Loyalist Brigades of Tikrit narrowly defeated Ansar al-Islam in the month long May 2008 siege of Tikrit. Tikrit is still an active hot-bed of violent pro-Saddam activity. Ansar al-Islam is currently battling I.S.I.S around Mosul.