Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region has put tight restrictions on the border crossings used by Iraqis fleeing extremist militants and airstrikes in the northern city of Mosul on Saturday, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis as some desperate families may be left with nowhere to go. The Kurdish regional government's decision to first close the border crossings and then reopen them with restrictions came on the same day Iraq's security forces went on the offensive, carrying out airstrikes in Mosul and fighting to take back Tikrit from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters, known as ISIS. The offensive appeared to mark a turn for Iraqi security forces, who were routed by ISIS fighters this month during a lighting advance that saw the al Qaeda offshoot seize large swaths of northern and western Iraq. State media and a local tribal leader reported that Iraqi forces had retaken the city of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. Sheikh Khamis al-Joubouri, a key tribal leader in Tikrit, told that the Iraqi security forces entered the city supported by special forces and fighters from among the local tribes, and had gained control. He said ISIS fighters retreated in the direction of Kirkuk and Nineveh provinces. However, amid claim and counter-claim, a combatant told a reporter that ISIS fighters remained in control of Tikrit, but that there are fierce clashes in an area about 20 kilometers from the city center, toward Samarra. Iraqi army and volunteer militia groups had cleared ISIS fighters from the city, having advanced on the city from four directions. Sabah Numan, a Counter Terrorism Unit spokesman, told the station that 120 militants had been killed and 20 vehicles destroyed in a large-scale operation that began Saturday morning.
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