Iraq Loses Control of 2nd City

Stability is deteriorating quickly in Iraq, where officials are confirming that Islamist militants have seized control of a second city, Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Officials tell the AP that the provincial governor based in Tikrit is missing, while the New York Times notes that militants encountered precious little resistance and appear to be on their way to Baghdad. They've taken over the town of Baiji, an oil-refining center with 200,000 residents, and they've done so "without firing a shot," the Times notes. The militants hold a power station that supplies Baghdad and beyond, and residents in the capital fear the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) could come their way next.

And with Iraq having lost control of its second-largest city to the Islamist militants, some 500,000 Mosul residents have fled, a watchdog says. "The situation is chaotic inside the city, and there is nobody to help us," a government worker tells the BBC. An Iraqi provincial official has indicated that leaders are strategizing to retake Mosul, but troops are showing fatigue. "The state is weak," a deserting soldier tells the Times. "This will be an endless battle." The US says it will continue to provide "some security assistance" to Iraq, but the government must "step up to the plate" in a push against ISIS, the Guardian reports. The group, the State Department says, is "not only a threat to the stability of Iraq, but a threat to the entire region." (More Iraq stories.)