Samawah: Difference between revisions

{{CitationsMore missingcitations needed|date=February 2008}}

|native_name = {{lang-langx|ar|السماوةٱلسَّمَاوَة}} <!-- for cities whose native name is not in English -->

|image_skyline = Samawa1Hotel in Samawah.jpg

|image_caption = Qaser Al Gaader Hotel in Samawah

'''Samawah''' or '''As-Samawah''' ([[Arabic language]]: السماوة{{langx|ar|ٱلسَّمَاوَة|as-Samāwah}}) is a city in [[Iraq]], 280 kilometres (174 &nbsp;mi) southeast of [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2005/12/1201-2.html MOFA: Grassroots Human Security Grant Aid to Samawah, Iraq<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Martyrs_monument.jpg|right|thumb|223px|Martyr's Monument and Parade Ground]] -->

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". <!--[[Image:Samawa football team.jpg|right|thumb|223px|Samawah's local football team in the home stadium]]-->

The most famous attraction of Samawah is the ruins of the ancient [[Sumer]]ian city of [[Uruk]] which dates to [[5th millennium BC|4000 BC]]. This was the largest city in Sumer, extending over 2 &nbsp;km²². 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 [[4th millennium BC|3300 BC]].

Samawah has a large [[salt lake]] called [[Sawa lake|Sawa Lake]], which once had a tourist village that has since fallen into disrepair. The lake is located 25 &nbsp;km (15 &nbsp;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 [[levee]]s. 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.

Al Muthanna province contains one of the most notorious prisons in Iraq, which has been used since the time of the monarchy (1921–1958). ''[[Nugra Salman|Nigret Al Salman]]'', located in the small town of Al-Salman 200 &nbsp;km (124 &nbsp;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 fromsurviving the [[Dujail Massacre]].<ref>{{Cite beforenews their|date=2005-10-19 execution|title=Das asMassaker wellvon asDudschail |language=de-DE |work=Der Tagesspiegel Online |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/hintergrund-das-massaker-von-dudschail/652118.html |access-date=2022-08-28 |issn=1865-2263}}</ref> During the [[KurdAnfal campaign]]ish prisonersdirected sinceat Kurds, older men and women were sent to the [[prison as well.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hilterman |first=Joost Kurdish|date=2016-01-19 revolts]]|title=The of1988 theAnfal 1950sCampaign in Iraqi Kurdistan {{!}} Sciences Po Mass Violence and Resistance - Research Network |url=https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/1988-anfal-campaign-iraqi-kurdistan.html |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=www.sciencespo.fr |language=en}}</ref>

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 schسكولionschion 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.

Primarily [[Shi'a Islam|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.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} 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 1979-811979–81 an [[ethnic cleansing]] campaign saw Shia Iraqis deemed to be of [[Persian people|Persian]] origin deported by the [[Baathist]] regime of [[Saddam Hussein]].

The unemployment rate is high, though agriculture and mining are active.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} 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.

Samawah had the largest [[cement]] factories in the Middle East during the 1970s,{{FactCitation needed|date=February 2007}} 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.

The ''[[Bahr al Milh]]'', or Salt Sea, located 20 &nbsp;km (12 &nbsp;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 [[kiln]]s with chimney stacks as high as 30 &nbsp;m (98 &nbsp;ft) are constructed by villagers in the surrounding region to make baked bricks with the same methods used during the Sumerian and [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] periods.

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 &nbsp;mi) to the west of central Samawah.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

==Security since 2003 US invasion==

Since the [[2003 Invasion of Iraq]], the town has had the fewest problems with Coalition forces, with insurgent activity practically non-existent.{{FactCitation needed|date=February 2007}}

Elements of the [[U.S. 82nd Airborne Division]] and 1-411–41 Infantry, 1st Armored Division, took the town in the [[Battle of Samawah (2003)|Battle of Samawah]], a fierce running battle with emplaced [[Fedayeen]] Saddam|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 [[5th Marine (United States) Regiment|RCT-5]], [[1st Marine Division (United States)|1st Marine Division]]. Control of the city was handed over to [[Royal Netherlands Army|Dutch forces]] in August 2003, <!-- Dutch left at some point --> 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.

On December 24, 2006, political violence between Shiite militias hit Samawah, <ref>[http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq25dec25,0,7711681.story?coll=la-home-headlines 2 dead in Baghdad minibus bombing -– Los Angeles Times<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Isis claims responsibility after two blasts kill at least 32 people in Iraqi city of Samawa|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-car-bombings-isis-claims-responsibility-after-two-blasts-latest-info-in-city-of-samawa-a7008811.html|website=The Independent|accessdateaccess-date=1 May 2016|language=en-GB|date=1 May 2016}}</ref>

{{commonscatcommons category|Samawah}}

* [http://www.iraqimage.com/pages/browse/As_Samawah.html Iraq Image -– Samawah Satellite Observation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623063822/http://www.iraqimage.com/pages/browse/As_Samawah.html |date=2012-06-23 }}