Amarah

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pushpin_map_caption = Amarah's location inside Iraq
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Iraq
subdivision_type1 = Governorate
subdivision_name1 = Maysan
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population_total = 420,000
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latd=32|latm=0|latNS=N
longd=47|longm=0|longEW=E Amarah (ArB|العمارة; BGN: Al ‘Amārah; also spelled Amara), is a city in southeastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km from the border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the marshlands between the Tigris and Euphrates.cite web| url=http://www.greatestcities.com/Middle_East/Iraq/Al_Amarah_Amara_city.html| title=Al 'Amarah| publisher=Microsoft| work=Encarta Online Encyclopedia| year= 2001| accessdate=2006-10-20]

Predominantly Shiite, it had a population of about 340,000 as of 2002 and about 420,000 as of 2005.cite web| url=http://lexicorient.com/e.o/amarah.htm| title=Al Amarah| work=Encyclopaedia of the Orient| accessdate=2006-10-20| first=Tore| last= Kjeilen] It is the administrative capital of the Maysan province. A major trading center for the surrounding agricultural area, it is known for woven goods and silverware.

History

The city was founded in the 1860s as an Ottoman military outpost from which the empire tried to control the warring Banu Lam and Al Bu Muhammad tribes.

In 1915 Amarah was captured by the British.cite web| url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9006007/al-Amarah| title=al-'Amarah| work=Encyclopædia Britannica| accessdate=2006-10-20] Before the revolution in 1958 Amarah was known for its feudal system with local estate-holders maintaining private militias.

During the eight year Iran–Iraq War, Amarah and the surrounding province became the sight of several battles, notably Operation Before the Dawn launched by Iran. Since the Baghdad-Basra highway cut through the province, Iran targeted the area due to its strategic significance to the Iraqis.

After the Persian Gulf War, Amarah was one of many sites during the 1991 uprisings in Iraq against Saddam Hussein. Many insurgents throughout Iraq retreated to safe havens in the Amarah area. Many were killed and crudely buried in a mass grave outside the city. Saddam Hussein also resorted to a crude tactic of draining the marshes surrounding Amarah. Furthermore, Saddam constructed a number of dams in an effort to cut off the water supply to the area.

Throughout the 90's, the town's population swelled with refugees from the marshes. Saddam Hussein occasionally neglected service to the city in retribution for its role in the uprising. The city also supported the efforts of Moqtada al-Sadr, whose father was also killed by Saddam. In May 1999, Ba'ath party militias and units of the Special Republican Guard conducted operations in the region. Local resistance forces reportedly repelled the operation.

Iraq War (2003-present)

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the city made a final stand as a center of resistance to Saddam Hussein. The city was soon occupied by British forces, which set up two camps. Local residents hired diggers to unearth the bodies in the mass grave after twelve years. However, in June 2003, citizens of Amarah took up arms against patrolling British forces, killing six soldiers each in two separate attacks. The British bases frequently experienced mortar attacks afterward. The books "Sniper One" by Sergeant Daniel Mills and "Barefoot Soldier" by Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC both contain very good accounts on the events in Al Amarah during this period

After the British handed power over to the Iraqi government, a power struggle erupted between Shi'ite loyalists of the Mahdi Army and Badr Brigades. A number of assassinations occurred in the city between the rival factions. After the brother of a Mahdi army commander was captured, the Mahdi Army captured least three police stations and other state facilities on October 20 2006, resulting in at least twenty-two deaths, three of which were children. Iraqi Army and British advisers arrived from Basra the next day to secure a truce with Sadr representatives.

On June 18th 2008, the Iraqi Army launched a major operation in Amarah to wrest the city from the control of militias loyal to Moqtada al Sadr and to reduce the flow of weapons and Shiite militants transiting through the city from nearby Iran. The operation, codenamed Promise of Peace, followed significant Iraqi Army operations in Basra, the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, and Mosul in the first half of 2008. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061903209.html Londono, Ernesto and Aahad Ali. "Iraq, US Launch Crackdown."] Washington Post, June 20 2008.]

ee also

*Operation Before the Dawn
*Battle of Amarah

Bibliography

* "Inside The Resistance: The Iraqi Insurgency and the Future of the Middle East", Zaki Chehab, Nation Books, 2005

References

External links

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/marsh.htm Marsh - GlobalSecurity.org]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/amarah.htm Amarah - GlobalSecurity.org]
*cite news| title=Attack on Iraqi City Shows Militia’s Power| first=Kirk| last=Semple| date= 2006-10-20| publisher=New York Times| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/20/world/middleeast/21iraqcnd.html| accessdate=2006-10-20
*cite news| title=Shiite Militia Seizes Control of Iraqi City| first=Christine| last= Hauser| publisher=New York Times| date=2006-10-20
* [http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/7ab502706628fd71/c77e401ca01192c7 Iraq: Sorting Out Events in Amarah - Jeff Severns Guntzel - Google Groups]