BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An offensive by insurgents that threatens to dismember Iraq seemed to slow on Saturday after days of lightning advances as government forces regained some territory in counter-attacks, easing pressure on the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad. 
 
 As Iraqi officials spoke of wresting back the initiative against Sunni militants, neighboring Shi'ite Iran held out the prospect of working with its longtime U.S. arch-enemy to help restore security in Iraq. 
 
 U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he was reviewing military options, short of sending troops, to combat the insurgency. The United States ordered an aircraft carrier moved into the Gulf on Saturday, readying it in case Washington decides to pursue a military option after insurgents overran areas in the north and advanced on Baghdad. (Full Story) 
 
 Ships like the USS George H.W. Bush, which are equipped with sophisticated anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, are often used to launch airstrikes, conduct surveillance flights, do search, rescue, humanitarian and evacuation missions, and conduct seaborne security operations, a U.S. defense official said. 
 
 Thousands of Iraqis responded to a call by the country's most influential Shi'ite cleric to take up arms and defend the country against the insurgency, led by the Sunni militant Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL. 
 
 In a visit to the city of Samarra, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to rout the insurgents, whose onslaught has put the future of Iraq as a unitary state in question and raised the specter of sectarian conflict. 
 
 The militant gains have alarmed Maliki's Shi'ite supporters in both Iran and the United States, which helped bring him to power after invading the country and toppling former Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. 
 
 Oil prices have jumped over fears of ISIL disrupting exports from OPEC member Iraq. 
 
 But having encountered little resistance in majority Sunni areas, the militants have now come up against the army, which clawed back some towns and territory around Samarra on Saturday with the help of Shi'ite militia. 
 
 "We have regained the initiative and will not stop at liberating Mosul from ISIL terrorists, but all other parts," said Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman for the Iraqi military's commander-in-chief, pointing out areas the army had retaken on a map with a laser pen. 
 
 In the northeastern province of Diyala, at least seven members of the Kurdish security forces were killed in an airstrike, police said. 
 
 The secretary general of the Kurdish security forces said, however, that only two people had died near the town of Jalawla in what he described as shelling, and that it was not yet clear whether Iraqi forces or militants were responsible. 
 
 The incident and divergent accounts show the potential for security in Iraq to deteriorate further, given the deployment of several heavily armed factions and shifting areas of control. 
 
 Militants in control of Tikrit, 45 km (27 miles) north of Samarra, planted landmines and roadside bombs at the city's entrances, apparently anticipating a counter-attack by government forces. Residents said the militants deployed across the city and moved anti-aircraft guns and heavy artillery into position. Families began to flee north in the direction of Kirkuk, an oil-rich city that Kurdish forces occupied on Thursday after the Iraqi army fled. 
 
 IRAQI ARMY COUNTER-ATTACKS 
 
 Security sources said Iraqi troops attacked an ISIL formation in the town of al-Mutasim, 22 km (14 miles) southeast of Samarra, driving militants into the surrounding desert on Saturday. 
 
 The army also reasserted control over the small town of Ishaqi, southeast of Samarra, to secure a road that links the city to Baghdad and the cities of Tikrit and Mosul farther north. 
 
 Troops backed by the Shi'ite Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia helped retake the town of Muqdadiya northeast of Baghdad, and ISIL was dislodged from Dhuluiya after three hours of fighting with tribesmen, local police and residents, a tribal leader said. 
 
 In Udhaim, 90 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, Asaib and police fought militants who earlier occupied the local municipal building, an official there told Reuters, and they directed mortar fire at the government protection force of the Baiji oil refinery, Iraq's largest. 
 
 Masked jihadists under the black flag of ISIL aim to revive a medieval caliphate that would span a fragmenting Iraq and Syria, redrawing borders set by European colonial powers a century ago and menacing neighbors like Iran and Turkey. 
 
 Obama cautioned on Friday that any U.S. intervention must be accompanied by an Iraqi government effort to bridge divisions between Shi'ite and Sunni communities. 
 
 The White House said on Saturday that Obama had called national security adviser Susan Rice on Friday night and on Saturday morning to receive updates on the situation in Iraq. 
 
 "The president directed her to continue to keep him appraised of the latest developments, as his national security team continues to meet through the weekend to review potential options," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. 
 
 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Saturday and expressed support for Iraq in its fight against insurgents, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Kerry pledged $12 million and stressed that Iraq should assure its neighbors that the war is not sectarian, but against the insurgents, the statement said. 
 
 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, asked at a televised news conference whether Tehran could work with the United States to tackle ISIL, said: "We can think about it if we see America starts confronting the terrorist groups in Iraq or elsewhere. 
 
 "We all should practically and verbally confront terrorist groups," added Rouhani, a relative moderate who has presided over a thaw in Iran's long antagonistic relations with the West. 
 
 A senior Iranian official told Reuters earlier this week that Tehran, which has strong leverage in Shi'ite-majority Iraq, may be ready to cooperate with Washington against ISIL rebels. 
 
 The official said the idea of cooperating with the Americans was being mooted within the Tehran leadership. For now, according to Iranian media, Iran will send advisers and weaponry, although probably not troops, to boost Baghdad. 
 
 U.S. officials said on Friday there had been no contact with Iran over the crisis in Iraq. Asked about Rouhani's comments on Saturday, a White House spokesman said he would have no further comment. 
 
 Any initiative would follow a clear pattern of Iranian overtures since the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on U.S. targets, which led to quiet U.S.-Iranian collaboration in the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan and formation of a successor government. 
 
 The United States and Iran, adversaries since Iran's 1979 revolution toppled the U.S.-backed Shah, have long accused each other of meddling in the Gulf and beyond, and have not cooperated on regional security issues for more than a decade. 
 
 MALIKI: BEGINNING OF END FOR MILITANTS 
 
 Militants attacked the convoy of the custodian of the holy shrine in Samarra, while he was en route to Baghdad. Sheikh Haider al-Yaqoobi was not harmed, but 10 of his guards were killed, a source in Samarra hospital said. 
 
 Maliki traveled on Friday to Samarra, one of the cities targeted - although not seized - by ISIL fighters who now prevail in a string of Sunni cities and towns running south from Mosul. 
 
 "Samarra will not be the last line of defense, but a gathering point and launchpad," he told military officers after Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric urged people to take up arms and defend the country against the insurgents. 
 
 "Within the coming hours, all the volunteers will arrive to support the security forces in their war against the gangs of ISIL. This is the beginning of the end of them," Maliki, a Shi'ite Muslim, said in comments broadcast on Iraqi television. 
 
 Maliki said the Cabinet had granted him unlimited powers to confront insurgents. Last week, parliament failed to convene for a vote on declaring a state of emergency due to a boycott by most Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers. 
 
 In Basra, Iraq's main city in the mainly Shi'ite far south, hundreds volunteered to join the battle against ISIL, heeding a call to arms by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who commands unswerving loyalty from most Iraqi Shi'ites. 
 
 The volunteers, of all ages, were due to be given weapons and sent to a security center in Basra later on Saturday ready to be transferred farther north. "We the people of Basra obeyed our instructions to defend our country from south to north," said 63-year-old Kadhem Jassim. 
 
 Iran's Rouhani said he would review any request for help submitted by Maliki, although none had been received yet. "We are ready to help in the framework of international regulations and laws," he said. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Isabel Coles in Arbil, Parisa Hafezi in Ankara and William Maclean in Dubai; Ahmed Rasheed and Isabel Coles in Baghdad; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Stephen Powell and Peter Cooney) ||||| The U.S. aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush and more than 50 attack aircraft are in the region of the Persian Gulf and available to launch attacks against militants in Iraq, Pentagon officials have confirmed. 
 
 Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said the Bush and an accompanying battle group of ships were "in the region and ready for tasking." 
 
 The nuclear-powered carrier deployed from Norfolk, Va., in February as part of its regular rotation to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. 
 
 "I also think it's important to remember that we have some 35,000 U.S. military personnel in the Middle East region," Kirby said. "Our forces there work closely each and every day with our partners to defend against external aggression and terrorist networks that threaten America and its allies." 
 
 If ordered by the president, the Bush could coordinate the attacks against the militant group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL. The group has overtaken several cities and routed some Iraqi armed forces in a wave of recent violence. The militants have captured the cities of Mosul and Tikrit and are moving towards Baghdad. 
 
 "Over the last 36 hours, the (Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel) has met a number of times with senior military leaders to discuss events on the ground and to prepare options for the president's consideration," Kirby said Friday. Without detailing the options, he said that they "cover a wide range of military capabilities and will be designed... to help break the momentum of ISIL's progress and bolster Iraqi security forces." 
 
 Any decision, he said "rests solely with the commander in chief." 
 
 Earlier in the day the president said he would no consider sending ground troops back into the country. 
 
 Kirby said the Department of Defense has concentrated on working to train and equip Iraqi security forces with an emphasis on increasing their capacity to defend themselves. In March, the Pentagon delivered 100 Hellfire missiles to Iraqi forces, bringing the total to about 300, in addition to millions of rounds of small-arms fire, tank ammunition and helicopter-fired rockets. 
 
 Additional armed Scout helicopters were already delivered to Iraq and an additional $1 billion in foreign military sales are planned. ||||| BAGHDAD — A rebel juggernaut that captured Iraq’s second-largest city and raced nearly 200 miles south in three days, raising fears of an imminent assault on Baghdad, stalled for a second day on Saturday about 60 miles north of the capital, leaving residents bracing for a siege that so far has not happened. 
 
 While some Baghdad residents scrambled to leave, hoarded food or rushed to join auxiliary militias to defend the city, the militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and their allies halted their advance within a two-hour drive, and there was no indication that they were seeking to push into Baghdad proper. 
 
 The rebel leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who had boasted that he would soon take the capital and press on to the Shiite heartland in southern Iraq, fell silent as his followers worked to consolidate their gains in predominantly Sunni parts of the country, instead of trying to fight their way through more heavily defended, Shiite-dominated areas. 
 
 There were reports of fresh clashes in Dujail, Ishaqi and Dhuluiya in Salahuddin Province, just north of Baghdad, as newly armed Shiite militias surged to confront the largely Sunni insurgents. However, there did not appear to have been any decisive engagements between the insurgents and the Iraqi military, and there was no clear evidence to support an Iraqi general’s claim on Saturday that the Iraqi Army had rolled the militants back in those towns. ||||| Shiite clerics called on Iraqi civilians to take up arms against advancing Sunni insurgents inspired by al-Qaeda, drawing the battle lines for a major sectarian confrontation in the fracturing state. 
 
 Shiite clerics called on Iraqi civilians to take up arms against advancing Sunni insurgents inspired by al-Qaeda, drawing the battle lines for a major sectarian confrontation in the fracturing state. 
 
 Shiite clerics called on Iraqi civilians to take up arms against advancing Sunni insurgents inspired by al-Qaeda, drawing the battle lines for a major sectarian confrontation in the fracturing state. 
 
 A Shiite militia seized control of an Iraqi town Saturday, blunting the advance toward Baghdad of radical Sunni fighters in a sign that the widespread mobilization of paramilitary forces may be starting to have an impact. 
 
 The first overtly sectarian battle of the new war unfolding for control of Iraq came as thousands of heavily armed Shiites paraded defiantly through the streets of Baghdad, responding to a call to arms from their most revered cleric. 
 
 Men young and old piled into taxis, trucks, police vehicles and minibuses and drove noisily through the streets, honking horns and waving an assortment of weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades, high-powered sniper rifles, Kalashnikov assault rifles and handguns. 
 
 “Daiish we will never surrender,” chanted a group of young men piled on the back of a pickup truck, using an acronym for the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which carried out a stunningly swift seizure of large swaths of northern Iraq last week. 
 
 “We want to show the world that we can protect ourselves,” said Khodr al-Tamimi, a turbaned cleric who waved a pistol from the window of his black, armored SUV as it wound through emptied shopping streets. “Wherever they go, we will defeat them,” he added, referring to ISIS. 
 
 Iraqi soldiers and police sealed off streets and stood guard as the procession of thousands of armed men passed, a reminder of the extent to which the U.S.-trained security forces have lost stature since the mass desertions across the north that facilitated the ISIS advance. 
 
 Thousands of Shiites flocked for a third straight day to volunteer to fight, crowding recruitment centers set up in mosques, a former airport and at the homes of prominent Shiite clerics and politicians. Their numbers swelled in response to the call to jihad issued Friday by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, regarded as the most influential Shiite cleric in the world. Busloads of people descended on parts of the capital from towns and cities in the south, and the travelers said more buses were on the way. 
 
 As President Obama considered military options to meet Iraq’s request for assistance, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Saturday ordered a U.S. aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf. 
 
 The USS George H.W. Bush was expected to arrive in the gulf from the Arabian Sea by Saturday night, along with the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea and guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun, Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement. 
 
 The order to move the ships “will provide the commander-in-chief additional flexibility should military options be required to protect American lives, citizens and interests in Iraq,” Kirby said. 
 
 In a call to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Saturday, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said the United States is committed to supporting Iraq. He urged the Iraqi government to quickly ratify the nation’s election results, calling on its leaders “to put aside differences and implement a coordinated and effective approach to forge the national unity necessary to move the country forward and confront the threat” of ISIS. 
 
 An Iraqi general told reporters in Baghdad that the armed forces have “regained the initiative” in recent days and are confident that Baghdad is secure. As part of the effort to protect the capital, soldiers headed into the desert to dig a trench, according to footage broadcast on local television stations. 
 
 The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an al-Qaeda splinter group that has seized a huge chunk of northern Iraq, is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a relatively unknown and enigmatic figure. (The Washington Post) 
 
 Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the military is coordinating with forces in the city of Samarra and other areas north of the capital to retake territory claimed by the insurgents “and have achieved remarkable victories with the help of volunteers.” 
 
 In the town of Muqdadiyah in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, residents said that the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia had made the difference and that fighters with that Iranian-backed paramilitary movement were in control. 
 
 The Iraqi security forces retreated when ISIS fighters swept into the town, repeating a pattern witnessed in numerous Iraqi towns overrun in the past week. The militia then pushed into the town from the south, forced the ISIS fighters back and took control, said a resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear for his life. 
 
 The Sunni and Shiite groups are now facing each other on the northern outskirts of the town, he said, marking a new front line in what is fast becoming a Sunni-Shiite war. 
 
 Both sides in the conflict claimed Saturday to have inflicted large numbers of casualties. ISIS said on its official Twitter account that it had executed 1,700 Shiite soldiers Friday. Meanwhile, the pro-government Iraqia satellite channel reported that Iraqi forces had killed nearly 300 “terrorists” across northern Iraq on Saturday. It was impossible to verify either claim. 
 
 Speaking in Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would not confirm or deny reports that the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, had entered Iraq to assist Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government. He told reporters that his country is prepared to step in to help Iraq but that Iraqi authorities had not requested assistance. 
 
 “We are ready to help Iraq within the framework of international law, and if the Iraqi government and nation ask us to do so, we will consider it,” he said. 
 
 Separately, however, Iran’s interior minister, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, said that the country has “no intention of sending military forces to Iraq.” 
 
 “We’ll provide consultation and guidance to Iraqi forces,” Fazli told reporters in Tehran, according to the semiofficial Mehr News Agency. “But if terrorists get close to our borders, we will destroy them.” 
 
 Iraqi security forces claimed Saturday to have regained control of the small town of Ishaqi north of Baghdad, and claims were reported in local news media that the Iraqi air force had struck a number of targets in insurgent-occupied areas. 
 
 Maliki and his administration have appeared at times to exaggerate the armed forces’ capabilities, perhaps to compensate for the rout of the Iraqi soldiers who abandoned their weapons and fled when they were confronted by ISIS forces last week. There are now no Iraqi forces in the northern province of Kirkuk, which one week ago was home to 17,000 soldiers, said Gen. Sharko Fiteh, commander of the First Brigade of the pesh merga, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s security forces. He spoke in the city of Kirkuk. 
 
 “The terrorists are spreading like a virus,” he said. “Nothing now is controlled by Baghdad.” 
 
 In the north, there was no sign that the confidence of the ISIS militants had been shaken. The group shelled Kurdish positions near Kirkuk, triggering some of the heaviest fighting in a week. On Thursday, Kurdish fighters took advantage of the chaos of the ISIS advance and seized Kirkuk, which has long been coveted by the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan. 
 
 Hauslohner reported from Cairo. Loveday Morris in Kirkuk and Jason Rezaian in Tehran contributed to this report. ||||| BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of young Iraqi men gripped by religious and nationalistic fervor streamed into volunteer centers Saturday across Baghdad, answering a call by the country's top Shiite cleric to join the fight against Sunni militants advancing in the north. 
 
 This image made from video shows Kurdish Peshmerga security forces fighting militants from the al-Qaida inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Tel Al Wared, 20 kilometers west of Kirkuk,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Iraqi men flash victory signs as they leave the main recruiting center to join the Iraqi army in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, June. 14, 2014, after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle insurgents. Hundreds... (Associated Press) 
 
 Iraqi refugees from Mosul at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2014. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the al-Qaida breakaway... (Associated Press) 
 
 Iraqi men fill military trucks to join the Iraqi army at the main recruiting center in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, June. 14, 2014, after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle insurgents. Hundreds of young... (Associated Press) 
 
 This image made from video broadcast on Al Iraqiya Television on Friday, June 13, 2014 shows Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meeting with military commanders in Samarra, Iraq. The Iraqi leader moved... (Associated Press) 
 
 Iraqi men board military trucks to join the Iraqi army at the main recruiting center in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, June. 14, 2014, after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle insurgents. Hundreds of young... (Associated Press) 
 
 Iraqi Shiite tribal fighters deploy with their weapons while chanting slogans against the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), to help the military, which defends the capital... (Associated Press) 
 
 An Iraqi refugee man from Mosul walks in Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2014. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the al-Qaida... (Associated Press) 
 
 Iraqi men wave a national flag as they leave the main recruiting center to join the Iraqi army in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, June. 14, 2014, after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle insurgents. Hundreds... (Associated Press) 
 
 Dozens climbed into the back of army trucks, chanting Shiite slogans and hoisting assault rifles, pledging to join the nation's beleaguered security forces to battle the Sunni group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has launched a lightning advance across the country. 
 
 "By God's will, we will be victorious." said one volunteer, Ali Saleh Aziz. "We will not be stopped by the ISIL or any other terrorists." 
 
 The massive response to the call by the Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued via his representative Friday, comes as sectarian tensions are threatening to push the country back toward civil war in the worst crisis since U.S. forces withdrew at the end of 2011. 
 
 Fighters from the al-Qaida splinter group, drawing support from former Saddam Hussein-era figures and other disaffected Sunnis, have made dramatic gains in the Sunni heartland north of Baghdad after overrunning Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul on Tuesday. Soldiers and policemen have melted away in the face of the lightning advance, and thousands have fled to the self-rule Kurdish region in northern Iraq. 
 
 On Saturday, insurgents seized the small town of Adeim in Diyala province after Iraqi security forces pulled out, said the head of the municipal council, Mohammed Dhifan. Adeim is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad. There was no official confirmation of the loss of the town. 
 
 Jawad al-Bolani, a lawmaker and former Cabinet minister close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said a military offensive was underway Saturday to drive the insurgents from Tikrit, Saddam's hometown north of Baghdad, although fighting in the area could not be confirmed. 
 
 AP Television News footage showed Kurdish fighters, known as peshmerga, driving out militants who had taken over an army outpost some 24 kilometers (15 miles) west of the oil city of Kirkuk. The position had earlier been abandoned by Iraqi army troops. Long coveted by the Kurds who have a self-rule region in northern Iraq, Kirkuk fell under the control of the peshmerga this week after Iraqi army forces left. 
 
 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday his Shiite nation is ready to help Iraq if asked, adding that it has "no option but to confront terrorism." Addressing a news conference, he suggested the Sunni militants in northern Iraq are linked to Iraqi politicians who lost in parliamentary elections held in April. 
 
 "We will study if there is a demand for help from Iraq. Until today, no specific request for help has been demanded. But we are ready to help within international law," he said. "Entry of our forces (into Iraq) to carry out operations has not been raised so far. It's unlikely that such conditions will emerge." 
 
 Iran has built close political and economic ties with Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam's Sunni-led regime and many influential Iraqi Shiites, including al-Maliki, have spent years in exile in the Islamic Republic. 
 
 The fast-moving rebellion has emerged as the biggest threat to Iraq's stability since even before the Americans left. 
 
 Long-simmering Sunni-Shiite tensions boiled over after the U.S.-led invasion ousted Saddam in 2003, leading to vicious fighting between the two Muslim sects. But the bloodshed ebbed in 2008 after a so-called U.S. surge, a revolt by moderate Sunnis against al-Qaida in Iraq and a Shiite militia cease-fire. 
 
 The latest bout of fighting, stoked by the civil war in neighboring Syria, has pushed the nation even closer to a precipice that could partition it into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish zones. 
 
 Shiite cleric and political leader Ammar al-Hakim was shown on television networks donning a camouflaged military fatigue as he spoke to volunteers from his party, although he still wore his clerical black turban that designates him as a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. 
 
 State-run television also aired a constant flow of nationalist songs, clips of soldiers marching or singing, flying aircraft, brief interviews with troops vowing to crush the militants and archival clips of the nation's top Shiite clerics. 
 
 Extensive clips of al-Maliki's visit on Friday to the city of Samarra, home to a much revered Shiite shrine that was bombed in 2006, also were broadcast. 
 
 The footage seemed clearly aimed at rehabilitating his reputation in the eyes of Shiites, with a dour-faced al-Maliki seen praying at the Shiite shrine — an apparent reminder of his commitment to his faith and the protection of its followers. He also declared that Samarra would be the assembly point for the march farther north to drive out the militants, another decision with a religious slant to win over Shiites. 
 
 In an address to military commanders in Samarra, he warned that army deserters could face the death penalty if they don't report back to their units. But he insisted the crisis had a silver lining. 
 
 "This is our chance to clean and purge the army from these elements that only want to make gains from being in the army and the police," he said. "They thought that this is the beginning of the end but, in fact, we say that this is the beginning of their end and defeat." 
 
 Also Saturday, the Iraqi government's counterterrorism department said the son of Saddam's vice president, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, was killed in an air raid by the Iraqi air force in Tikrit. It said Ahmed al-Douri was killed with some 50 other Saddam loyalists and ISIL fighters on Friday. The report could not be immediately verified. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.
– Earlier this week, Sunni militants aligned with al-Qaeda captured so much of Iraq so quickly that they seemed poised to roll into Baghdad, too. But the movement seems to have stalled about 60 miles to the north, reports the New York Times. The Iraqi army has actually won back some territory earlier claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Gen. Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi tells Reuters. And another general declares that "the security in Baghdad is 100% stable." Other developments: Volunteers: Hundreds of young volunteers in Baghdad have heeded a call from Iraq's top Shiite cleric to take up arms, reports AP. "By God's will, we will be victorious," says one. "We will not be stopped by the ISIL or any other terrorists." Iran: President Hassan Rouhani says Iran is "ready to help Iraq" as soon as Iraqi authorities request it, reports the Washington Post. US military: The Pentagon ordered an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf to give President Obama more options as he weighs an American response, reports al.com.