As a tide of Sunni militant fighters sweeping toward Baghdad threatens the government of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki , a flood of refugees sought safety in the autonomous region of Kurdistan . At one checkpoint in northern Iraq , CNN 's Arwa Damon witnessed a bumper-to-bumper procession of cars and trucks fleeing from Mosul and surrounding villages . A virtual parking lot of vehicles filled with woman and young children , the two-lane road was choked with dust and engine exhaust as Iraqi civilians fled the rapid advance of the militant Islamic State in Iraq and Syria , an al Qaeda splinter group also known by its acronym ISIS . `` Mosul has fallen to the terrorists , '' one young man told CNN . `` It 's fallen to al Qaeda . '' That unraveling began in earnest on Tuesday as Iraqi security forces fled and militants overran Iraq 's second-largest city in a stunning collapse that heightened questions about al-Maliki 's ability to control not only Mosul , but the entire country . Militants seized Mosul 's airport , TV stations , the governor 's office and other parts of the northern Iraqi city . There also were incursions into the oil refining town of Baiji . Fighting alongside ISIS militants are other Sunni insurgent groups active during the U.S. invasion of Iraq that believe in fighting the Shia dominated government and its perceived anti-Sunni agenda , though they do n't subscribe to ISIS 's ideology or the establishment of an Islamic caliphate . But this is much more than a battle between an insurgency and a government . Much of the lands that have fallen to ISIS and its current allies is predominantly Sunni , where much of the population despises al-Maliki and his Shia-dominated government 's polarizing policies . It 's a battle of survival between Sunni and Shia contingents . Additionally , Shia religious leaders and others have called for volunteers to join Iraqi security forces in the fight . Numerous reports of police and soldiers running from their posts in Mosul -- leaving uniforms , vehicles , weapons and ammunition behind -- raised the prospect that the Iraqi government did not either have the will or resources to combat the advancing threat . `` They have melted down , unfortunately , '' Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said of a video purporting to show hundreds of Iraqi forces captured by militants in Tikrit , hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein . `` I mean , two army divisions in the city and their commanders escaped to the north . The government needs to take serious action . '' On Friday , President Barack Obama said the United States `` will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq , '' but that he would be reviewing a range of other options in coming days . Pressure for the United States to provide military support to Iraq 's struggling government has increased , with conservative Republicans blaming Obama for the crisis by pulling out U.S. troops in 2011 to create a security vacuum . The conflict could potentially escalate with reports that Iranian special forces were in Iraq to bolster the government of al-Maliki , a fellow Shiite . Iran rejected that claim . At the northern Iraqi border crossing , families waiting in traffic described relative calm streets on streets where militant gunman roamed . Running water and gasoline were available , they said , but their biggest concern was airstrikes by the Iraqi military . One such airstrike came against a former Iraqi military base south of Mosul where ISIS militants were believed to the staying . There also were warnings from Baghdad for residents to stay away from government buildings . On Friday , Iraqi State TV reported that military airstrikes had killed 70 ISIS militants and wounded 40 others in Tikrit . At the border crossing between Mosul and Iraqi Kurdistan , some returning refugees explained their willingness to come back by noting that ISIS had not conducted mass executions or pillaged towns . A few hours later , however , ISIS published `` rules '' for residents based on a strict interpretation of Sharia law . A spokesman for the U.N. 's High Commissioner for Human Rights reported summary executions of Iraqi security forces and of 17 civilians thought to be working for the police in Mosul .
Iraqi civilians flee toward Kurdistan region . The United Nations estimates that more than 200,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Iraq since last year. Government planes target ISIS with airstrikes .