Residents were told before hand to evacuate. Soooo who did they tell?
If the people evacuating were ISIL/Daesh, the good news is still that they’re gone. ISIL/Daesh needs Tikrit. Without it, they’ll be powerless to stop the Shiite/Kurdish/tribal forces from dividing Fallujah, Mosul and Hajiwa from each other. Tikrit supplies a power base where they can move heavy equipment within an urban environment, among the Mosul, Hajiwa and Fallujah corridors.