U.S. begins airstrikes against ISIS in Tikrit

A map of Iraq. — (Image credit: Twitter.com/KDVR)

Late Wednesday, American warplanes began airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Tikrit, Iraq.

It is the first time the United States has participated in the Iraqi offensive to take back the city, located north of Baghdad. For the past three weeks, a coalition of Shiite militias and Iraqi security forces, aided by Iranian military advisers, have been trying to get ISIS out of the city. Control of Tikrit would give Iraqi forces access to important roads, The New York Times reports, and would be the first major defeat of ISIS since it took over several cities in Iraq last summer.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.