NASIRIYAH
![](nasiriyah.jpg)
Nasiriyah
![](640px-Naserya_city_center_1.jpg)
Al-Habboubi
Square
Coordinates
: 31°02'38
N 46°15'27 E
Country : Iraq
Governorate : Dhi Qar
District : Nasiriyah
Established : 1872
Nasiriyah
(BGN: An Nasiriyah; also spelled Nassiriya or Nasiriya) is a city
in Iraq. It is situated along the banks of the Euphrates River,
about 360 km (225 miles) southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of
the ancient city of Ur. It is the capital of the Dhi Qar Governorate.
Its population 2003 was about 560,000, making it the fourth largest
city in Iraq. It had a religiously diverse population of Muslims,
Mandaeans and Jews in the early 20th century, but today its inhabitants
are predominantly Shias.
Nasiriyah
was founded by the Muntafiq tribe in the late 19th century during
the Ottoman era. It has since become a major hub for transportation.
Nasiriyah is the center of a date-growing area. The city's cottage
industries include boat-building, carpentry and silver working.
The city museum has a large collection of Sumerian, Assyrian,
Babylonian, and Abbasid artifacts. The ruins of the ancient
cities of Ur and Larsa are located nearby.
History
:
Establishment and Ottoman era :
![](Mandaean-Mandi-Nasiriya-Iraq.jpg)
Mandaean
house of worship in Nasiriyah, 2016
Nasiriyah was founded in 1872 by Nasir al-Sadoon Pasha, the sheikh
("chief") of the Muntafiq tribal confederation, after
whom the city was named. During that same year, it became the administrative
center of the Muntafiq sanjak ("district"). Nasir Pasha
was the head of the Sunni Muslim al-Saadun clan, which was the ruling
family of the Muntafiq whose tribesmen were mostly Shia Muslims.
At the time of Nasiriyah's founding, Muntafiq power in the Basra
Vilayet (southern Iraq) had increasingly given way to Ottoman centralization.
However, Nasir Pasha was appointed by the Ottomans as the head of
the vilayet (province) and registered large tracts of land around
Nasiriyah into his name. His son, Saadun Pasha, became the mutassarif
(tax collector) of Nasiriyah, and by 1908, he virtually governed
southern Iraq on their behalf, having curried their favor by strongly
supporting the 1908 Young Turk Revolution.
It
was a major center of trade in Ottoman Iraq and imported foreign
goods via commerce with Baghdad and Basra. The chief commodities
Nasiriyah produced included leather, grain and ghee. The town contained
about 600 well-built stone houses, but most buildings and homes
were constructed from mud brick. There were about 350 shops in Nasiriyah
as well as five khans (inns). The area surrounding the town was
abundant in date palms and grain fields. The town was not protected
by a wall like other major administrative centers. In addition to
the administrative functions it played for the Muntafiq district,
Nasiriyah served as a government outpost and settlement in a generally
nomadic region dominated by local Bedouin tribes.
British
and Hashemite rule :
![](Spice_Shop_Nasiriyah_Iraq.jpg)
Spice
shop in Nasiriyah
During World War I, the British conquered the city, controlled at
the time by the Ottoman Empire, in July 1915. Some 400 British and
Indian and up to 2,000 Turkish soldiers were killed in the battle
for Nasiriyah on 24 July 1915.
In
1920, Nasiriyah had 6,523 inhabitants. The population was ethnically
diverse with Arab Muslims accounting for 72.7% of the inhabitants,
Jews 8%, Mandeans 9.7%, Persians 4.6%, Lurs 4.3% and Christians,
Turks, and Indians forming the remainder of the population.
The
Iraqi Communist Party's first cell was founded in Nasiriyah by Yusuf
Salman Yusuf (known as "Fahd") in the 1930s. It was also
the birthplace of Fuad al-Rikabi, who founded the Iraqi Baath Party
in the 1950s. At the time, the Iraqi Baath consisted mostly of people
from Nasiriyah, namely Rikabi's relatives and associates.
Contemporary
period :
![](576px-Flickr_-_The_U.S._Army_-_Kindergarten_students_from_Nasiriyah,_Iraq.jpg)
Kindergarten
students from Mumsuna school in Nasiriyah attend the opening of
Ziggurat of Ur in 2009 (it had been closed following the U.S. invasion
in 2003)
During the 1991 Gulf War, Nasiriyah marked the furthest point to
which coalition forces penetrated Iraq, with the United States 82nd
Airborne Division and elements of the 101st Airborne Division reaching
the main road just outside the city. In March 1991, following the
American withdrawal at the war's end, the Shia population of Nasiriyah
took part in the revolt against the rule of Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein. The revolt was violently subdued by the Iraqi military
with heavy loss of life and much physical damage. Many of its inhabitants
were massacred by Iraqi government forces.
Until
the 2003 war, Nasiriyah was home to one of the biggest communities
of Mandeans in Iraq.
Iraq
War (2003 - 2010) :
In March 2003, Nasiriyah was one of the first major battles of the
2003 invasion of Iraq. Phillip Mitchell of the International Institute
for Strategic Studies so described the town's strategic importance
to The Guardian :
Nasiriyah
is a major administrative headquarters and is also [Iraqi General]
Majid's military district headquarters. It is a major strategic
crossing point of the Euphrates. For all those reasons Nasiriyah
will be well defended, which will slow the Mech [invasion] down
for a while.
—
Phillip Mitchell, Gains in south spur thrust in Baghdad –
The Guardian
On March 23, the U.S. invasion force was ambushed near the city:
11 US Soldiers were killed and Army Private Jessica Lynch, Army
Private Lori Piestewa and Specialist Shoshana Johnson were taken
prisoners of war during the skirmishes. The Battle of Nasiriyah
between Iraqi forces and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade under
the call sign "Task Force Tarawa" of the U.S. Marine Corps
lasted between about March 23 and March 29, in which 18 Marines
were killed and over 150 were wounded, including a number hit by
friendly fire from Air Force A-10 aircraft, but the Iraqi resistance
was defeated fairly rapidly thereafter. The town has been relatively
calm since the fall of Saddam Hussein. A truck bomb killed 18 Italian
soldiers and 11 civilians in November 2003, and clashes erupted
here in April 2004. [citation needed]
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Nasiriyah