Yathrib (), also transliterated ''Yethrib'' is a city in the

Salah ad Din Governorate The Saladin, Salah ad Din, or Salah Al-Din Governorate (, ) is one of Iraq's 19 governorates, north of Baghdad. It has an area of , with an estimated population of 1,042,200 people in 2003. It is made up of 8 districts, with the capital being T ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, directly north of the national capital,

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. It is in the so-called Sunni Triangle. The city is located right on the

Tigris River The Tigris ( ; see below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, before merging ...

. With the nearby cities and towns of Dhululiyah, Balad,

Ishaqi Ishaqi (also known as "Al Ishaqi") () is a small town in the Balad District of the Saladin Governorate of Iraq, about 60 miles (96 km) north of Baghdad. War crimes 1st 2006 incident In March 2006 Iraqi police reported that American troops had ...

, Dojama, Tarmiyah, and Taji it forms the northern Baghdad "belt" and sits along two highways that run between Samarra and the capital city Baghdad.

Iraq Insurgency 2014-present

ISIL The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signif ...

forces captured the city and region, with Iraqi troops fighting to recover the area.

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Kata'ib Hezbollah Kata'ib Hezbollah (), also known as the Hezbollah Brigades, is an Iraqi Shia paramilitary group which is a part of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), staffing the 45th, 46th, and 47th Brigades. During the Iraq War (2003–11), the g ...

employed ground forces to assist the

Iraqi Army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), also referred to as the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was formerly known as the Royal Iraq ...

with ISIL releasing photos including one of a dead Hezbollah fighter. The US and allied countries have bombed in and around Yathrib during the 2014 American-led intervention in Iraq.

Relationship to Medina

Yathrib is the pre-Islamic name for the holy city of

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

References

Populated places in Saladin Governorate Cities in Iraq {{iraq-stub