Tikrīt

The inner city is notable for also being a university town as it is frequented by students of the city's major university, the University of Tikrit which attracts talent from around Iraq.

Originally created as a fort during the Assyrian empire, Tikrit was the birthplace of Muslim military leader Saladin. Many Iraqi government officials during the Ba'athist period were from Tikrit; former president Saddam Hussein was born in the village of Al-Awja, 13 km south of the city.

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition, Tikrit was one of the cities in Iraq's "Sunni Triangle" which were core to an anti-coalition insurgency by Sunni militants—notably, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). In 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), ISI's successor, captured the city, and massacred 1,700 cadets of the Iraqi Armed Forces there. It was the second-deadliest terrorist attack in history.