SAMAWAH
![](samawah.jpg)
Samawah
![](640px-Samawa1.jpg)
Samawah
Samawah
or As-Samawah (Romanized: as-Samawah) is a city in Iraq, 280 kilometres
(174 mi) southeast of Baghdad.
The
city of Samawah is the modern capital of the Al Muthanna Governorate.
The city is located midway between Baghdad and Basra, at the northern
edge of the governorate. The province was established in 1975; prior
to that date it was a unified province along with Qadissiya (Diwaniya)
and Najaf.
History
and attractions :
![](Shorja_samawa.jpg)
Suq
Al Masgoof
The city was settled by the Arab tribe of Banu Quda'a around the
3rd century AD. It is built on both sides of the Euphrates river;
there are four bridges in the centre of town for crossing between
the two sides. The west bank of the city contains the commercial
heart of the city, and includes the old town and the Jewish quarter,
agd al yahood. The west bank is the site of the covered market Suq
Al Masgoof, which dates to the Ottoman period. The area surrounding
the market is the old city with its Byzantine maze of crowded markets
and streets.
The
eastern side of the city including 'Qushla' has a more modern feel
and contains a number of estates of apartment blocks built during
the 1970s and 1980s, As Samawah Stadium, which is home to the local
Muthanna football team Samawa FC, as well as technical colleges
and the polytechnic. There too is Al Qushla, the historic "Ottoman
Barracks".
The
most famous attraction of Samawah is the ruins of the ancient Sumerian
city of Uruk which dates to 4000 BC. This was the largest
city in Sumer, extending over 2 km. Uruk was not only the largest
conurbation of the first urban civilisation on earth, but it is
also the place where the first written script was discovered, the
oldest dating back to 3300 BC.
![](640px-Riverside_walk_samawa.jpg)
The
palm groves of Samawah
Samawah is built on both sides of the Euphrates and is surrounded
by hundreds of palm groves that give it a tropical feel, especially
in the southern and northern suburbs. These groves provide cool
respite from the scorching heat of Mesopotamia and were the inspiration
for the famous Iraqi folk song "The Palm of Samawah".
Samawah
has a large salt lake called Sawa Lake, which once had a tourist
village that has since fallen into disrepair. The lake is located
25 km (15 mi) to the north of the city centre and is accessible
by road. The lake has no obvious source, neither river nor ancient
link to a sea. The water is extremely salty due to heavy evaporation
in the searing heat of Mesopotamia and supports no marine life.
A unique feature of the lake is that the water is above ground level
surrounded by natural levees. Due to the high levels of salt in
the lake, the levees heal themselves if a break is made in the levee,
stopping the water from flowing down to ground level. The salt levels
also improve buoyancy, and many migratory birds walk on the lake.
![](Nigret_al_salman.jpg)
The
notorious desert prison Nigret al Salman
![](640px-Samawa2.jpg)
Overhead
view of the river
Al Muthanna province contains one of the most notorious prisons
in Iraq, which has been used since the time of the monarchy (1921–1958).
Nigret Al Salman, located in the small town of Al-Salman 200 km
(124 mi) south of Samawah, is a desert prison camp built in the
style of a fortress where thousands have perished over the decades.
It was used to house the prisoners from the Dujail Massacre before
their execution as well as Kurdish prisoners since the first Kurdish
revolts of the 1950s.
In
1964, the people of Samawah gained popular fame for rescuing over
1,000 political prisoners of the Iraqi Communist Party who were
sent in a "Train of Death" (qutar al maut) in metal cargo
rolling stock from Baghdad to Samawah en route to the Nigret Al
Salman prison in 50 °C (122 °F) heat. The train was attacked
by the city's people at the railway station, and the dehydrated
prisoners were watered and fed. Over 100 of the prisoners had already
perished.
![](Saray_samawa.jpg)
The
Saray
The Saray on the east bank of Samawah is the historical seat of
authority and authoritarianism in Samawah. It dates from the period
of the Ottoman Turkish Occupation. It has been the focus of revolts
and popular uprisings by the local population for the past century,
most recently in 1991 when hundreds of prisoners, including women
and children, as well as Kuwaiti hostages kidnapped by the Iraqi
occupation forces in 1990, were freed from their captors by the
people of Samawah.
![](Central_hospital_in_Samawa.jpg)
Samawah
General Hospital
Samawah's medical facilities have improved greatly since 2003. The
renovation of the central hospital with the aid of Japanese development
funds has resulted in an improvement in medical provision for the
residents of the province. New facilities, such as an MRI scanner,
have been added to the existing medical units.
![](Samawa_wallpainting.jpg)
Wall
paintings brighten up the city's drab concrete
The residents of Samawah have used some simple and low-cost means
to brighten up the appearance of the grey concrete walls surrounding
official buildings and schion was started in the early 1970s, but
was cut off during the period of Saddam Hussein's rule (1979–2003).
The wall paintings put up since 2003 depict the new life achieved
since the liberation.
Religion
:
Primarily Shiite, the town was cut off almost entirely by Saddam
after the Gulf War. Historically, however, Samawah has been a mixed
Jewish and Shia city. [citation needed] The terrorisation of the
Jewish minority by Arab nationalists in the 1940s and '50s drove
most of them into exile. The Torat Synagogue, which has been abandoned
since the flight of the Jews, still exists in the qushla quarter
of the east bank of Samawah. In 1979–81 an ethnic cleansing
campaign saw Shia Iraqis deemed to be of Persian origin deported
by the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein.
Today,
there is still a small population of Assyrian Christians in the
city.
Industries
:
The unemployment rate is high. The city, in spite of the lack of
high-value natural resources such as oil and gas and a lack of central
government investment, has managed to maintain lively small-scale
industrial, agricultural and alternative sectors.
![](640px-Cement_factory_samawa.jpg)
The
southern cement factory in central Samawah
Samawah had the largest cement factories in the Middle East during
the 1970s, [citation needed] with a total production capacity of
2.85 million tonnes a year. These have since fallen into disrepair,
exacerbating the unemployment situation, although the southern cement
factory, the oldest, reopened in 2005. As of 2007, the four existing
plants are producing a total of just 0.8 million tonnes a year due
to the shortage of electricity. Five new cement factories with a
capacity of 9 million tonnes a year are under construction on the
outskirts of Samawah and will provide employment for several thousand
skilled and unskilled workers as well as filling 45% of Iraq's total
cement needs.
A
small oil refinery was reopened in Samawah in 2005 after being idle
for 15 years. The existing 10,000 bbl/d facility's capacity was
doubled to 20,000 bbl/d (3,200 m3/d) in 2006 and was to have increased
to 30,000 bbl/d (4,800 m3/d) by 2007. The facility is linked by
pipeline to the new Kifl oil field in Samawah province that has
an initial capacity of 40,000 bbl/d (6,400 m3/d). The major advantage
of the refinery is that it is designed for processing heavy crude
oil, allowing the light crude to be exported.
![](Rolling_stock_overhaul.jpg)
Railway
overhaul facility
The historical route between Mesopotamia and Saudi Arabia ran through
Samawah, and it has been a main trading thoroughfare for Iraqi produce
to Saudi Arabia.
Samawah
is home to a rail yard for overhauling and maintaining the rolling
stock and locomotives along the Baghdad-Basra rail routes. Samawah
railway station is conveniently located halfway between Baghdad
and Basra. Overhaul facilities for the railways are an important
source of employment opportunities in this Mesopotamian city. There
was an overhaul facility for the Iraqi Armoured corps based in Samawah
belonging to the military Industrial Commission.
In
terms of agriculture, the staple Mesopotamian produce is grown in
Samawah, such as dates, wheat, barley, citrus fruits, and tomatoes.
In addition, Samawah is home to the small and rare trade in wild
truffles, which grow in the desert regions of Muthanna province.
The
Bahr al Milh, or Salt Sea, located 20 km (12 mi) to the southwest
of Samawah, is the main source of industrial salts in Iraq, and
large salt mining and processing facilities are located there to
exploit this resource. A thriving industry in traditional sun-baked
brick manufacture exists on the outskirts of Samawah using primarily
female labourers for forming and drying bricks. Large temporary
kilns with chimney stacks as high as 30 m (98 ft) are constructed
by villagers in the surrounding region to make baked bricks with
the same methods used during the Sumerian and Akkadian periods.
Samawah
has its own media industry, with the recently reopened Muthanna
TV broadcasting terrestrial transmission to Samawah and the province.
It focuses primarily on local news and issues. The station gained
notoriety as the "Robin Hood of Television" when it broadcast
the 2006 World Cup games without licence using a single subscription
to a pay-per-view satellite channel. The central government were
unable to enforce a ruling against the TV station to stop the transmissions.
There is a small cottage industry of carpet makers in the city,
primarily employing women. The advantages for the local carpet makers
are the availability of cheap raw materials, wool from the desert
Bedu who use Samawah as their main trading post, and the availability
of cheap labour in this poor city.
Reaching
Samawah :
![](Railway_station_samawa.jpg)
Samawah
railway station
Samawah is served by a highway for road traffic from Baghdad and
Basra. The railway station has passenger services from both Baghdad
and Basra and is the cheapest form of transport. The railway station
is located approximately 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) to the west of central
Samawah.
Samawah
is also accessible via the Euphrates River.
Samawah
artists and personalities :
A number of prominent artists originate from Samawah, including
poets, painters and sculptors. An indepth overview of both historical
and current artists can be found in samawah artists.
Due
to the preponderance of both communists as well as Shia thinkers
like (Sheikh Mahdi Al-Samawi) was among the personalities and artists
of Samawah, most of them ended up either being killed by the Baathists
regime or lived in exile for much of their lives.
Security
since 2003 invasion :
![](Handover_ceremony.jpg)
Handover
ceremony for Al Muthanna province in July 2006 at the football stadium
Since the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, the town has had the fewest problems
with Coalition forces, with insurgent activity practically non-existent.[citation
needed]
Elements
of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division and 1–41 Infantry, 1st
Armored Division, took the town in the Battle of Samawah, a fierce
running battle with emplaced Fedayeen forces in the days after the
initial invasion. After the initial combat phase ended in May 2003,
the 82nd was relieved by U.S. Marines from RCT-5, 1st Marine Division.
Control of the city was handed over to Dutch forces in August 2003,
to the British Army (1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards) in October
2004 who in turn handed over to (The Light Dragoons) again British
Army Cavalry Regiment in April 2005 and in October 2005 the 2nd
Battalion, Parachute Regiment took over. All units took part in
peacekeeping operations involving foot and vehicular patrols winning
hearts and minds also they helped in training local police in crowd
control and riot training, also fire arms training.
Japan
Self-Defense Forces, stationed in Samawah since January 2004, left
in 2006. British and Australian troops departed, making Samawah's
entire province the first to be responsible for its own security,
dubbed in Iraqi parlance the first "green province", meaning
that it is fully independent.
On
December 24, 2006, political violence between Shiite militias hit
Samawah, killing 9 people, among them 4 policemen. Reportedly, local
members of the Mahdi Army tried to seize the city in a failed attempt
and clashed with the police, who were aided by the Badr Organization.
Internal fighting and division among the local tribes was reported.
Associates of Mahdi leader Muqtada al-Sadr said he was distancing
himself from the Samawah militia, led by "a renegade cleric".
On
May 1, 2016 a government office and bus station in the city of Samawah
were attacked in a double car bombing claimed by the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant. The attack killed at least 32 people and
wounded another 85.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Samawah