Baghdad, June 12 (RHC)-- Iraq is in crisis as Sunni militants seize more towns and now set their sights on the capital Baghdad. In the past few days, al-Qaeda-linked rebels have seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, as well as Tikrit and Dhuluiya.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Kurds have seized control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk. The Sunni militants now control a territory that stretches from the eastern edge of Aleppo, Syria, to Fallujah in western Iraq and now the northern city of Mosul.

Their advance has caused a humanitarian catastrophe, displacing some 500,000 people in Mosul alone. Mosul fell in part because U.S.-trained Iraqi forces abandoned their posts.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has reportedly urged the U.S. to carry out airstrikes in recent months, but the Obama administration has declined the request so far.