town, capital of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn muḥāfaẓah (governorate), north-central Iraq. It lies on the west bank of the Tigris River about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Baghdad. In the 10th century Tikrīt had a noted fortress and was home to a large Christian monastery. Its wealth at that time derived from its production of woolen fabrics. Saladin, the Muslim founder of the Ayyūbid dynasty, was born at Tikrīt about 1137. The town was devastated in the late 14th century in the course of Timur's (Tamerlane's) Mesopotamian campaigns, and it remained a small village until the 20th century, when it began to grow again. Modern Tikrīt is best known as the birthplace (1937) of the Iraqi leader Ṣaddām Ḥussein. It was the last major Iraqi city to fall to coalition forces in 2003 during the initial phase of the Iraq War. Pop. (2004 est.) 30,600.