Es Samava

Es Samava is located in the northern part of Mutann Governorate, on both banks of the Euphrates River, through which four bridges are laid. The city is located 280 km southeast of Baghdad , between the capital and the main port city of the country - Basra , which determines its important strategic importance. ^[2]

Es Samava was founded around the 3rd century BC. e. Kuda'a tribe, which was part of the ancient kingdom of Himyar , which existed about 110 BC. e. - 599 in the south of the Arabian Peninsula . The Kuda tribe was previously located in Yemen , but subsequently left it and settled on the border of Iraq, in the Sama'a semi-desert. ^[3]

The city was built on both banks of the Euphrates River and is connected by four bridges in the center. The West Bank is the commercial heart of the city, including the old city and the Jewish quarter, agd al yahood . Here is the indoor market Suq Al Masgoof , built during the Ottoman Empire. The old city is rooted in the Byzantine period and is a maze of crowded streets and markets.

1932 - 2003

In 1964, the inhabitants of Samawa gained fame for saving the more than 1,000 political prisoners who were members of the Iraqi Communist Party who were sent on a Death Train ( qutar al maut ) from Baghdad to the Nigret Al Salman prison in a 50-degree heat wave. The train was attacked by residents of the city at the railway station, dehydrated prisoners were freed from the cars, watered and fed. More than 100 prisoners had already died by then.

In 1965, the population of the city was 33.5 thousand people ^[4] .

In 1975, the city became the administrative center of Mutann governorate, at that time it was the trading center of the agricultural region, which was built in 1955, a cement plant and a railway station ^[4] .

In 1977, a small oil refinery was commissioned in the city ^[5] .

In the 1980s, a hospital with 400 beds was built in the city ^[6] .

After the introduction of sanctions against Iraq in the early 1990s, the situation of the city worsened ^[7] .

Since 2003

During the invasion of coalition forces in Iraq on March 22, 2003, units of the 82nd US Airborne Division and 1st Armored Division advancing in Baghdad reached the city.

March 30 - April 4, 2003 there was a battle for the city ^[8] , during which over 100 civilians were killed in the city ^[9] .

In August 2003, control of the city was transferred to the Dutch forces, and in October 2004 to the British army ^[10] .

In January 2004, the city became the place of permanent deployment of the Japanese military contingent (which was here until mid-July 2006) ^[11] . Also, in January 2004, the Japanese government allocated funding for the renovation of the city hospital ^[6] and donated several ambulances to the city ^[12] .

In early February 2005, as a result of a night attack, the city police station was seized, one Iraqi police officer was killed, two more were injured ^[13] . After that, during 2005, Japan transferred equipment to the local police department ^{[14] [15]} .

In May 2005, the MNF-I military group was strengthened here by a unit of 450 Australian troops (which were stationed at the former Dutch military base Camp Smitty ^[16] outside the city) ^[17] .

On May 12, 2005, three shells were fired on the basis of the Japanese contingent ^[18] .

In the summer of 2005, an oil refinery with a capacity of 20 thousand barrels per day resumed operation ^[19] (not working since 1991) ^[5] .

In February 2006, with the financial assistance of Japan, the construction of a thermal power plant with a capacity of 60 MW began in the city (in December 2008, thermal power plants were transferred to the Iraqi authorities, and at that time it produced about a third of the electricity in the Mutanna governorate) ^[20] .

After clashes between Sunnis and Shiites began in Baghdad in March 2006, 750 refugees from the capital arrived in the city ^[21] .

On July 14, 2006, the city was officially transferred under the control of the Iraqi authorities ^[22] , after which the redeployment of the Australian contingent located in the city to Ali Air Base near the city of Nasiriya began ^[23] .

On July 26, 2006, an Australian military patrol was fired on the outskirts of the city ^[24] .

On July 30, 2006, the Camp Smitty military base was transferred to the Iraqi authorities for further use as the military base of the Iraqi army (but since the provincial authorities did not provide its protection, it was largely looted for a month) ^[25] .

In August 2006, a Japanese public organization allocated money for the construction of an orphanage in the city (and also paid for the treatment of one child in Japan) ^[26] .

On December 1, 2006, there was an attempt to release those arrested from the city prison, during which three people were killed, and the situation in the city was further complicated. After negotiations involving civilian officials, police leaders, and local Shia militia commanders, a ceasefire agreement was announced on December 3, 2006. But soon the situation in the city worsened, and clashes with the police began at police checkpoints near mosques. Police arrested 30 people from Shiite militias, after which the Shiite militia command demanded their release. On December 24, 2006, skirmishes began in the city, during which 9 people were killed (4 of whom were police officers) ^[27] .

On February 18, 2007, the city police chief was attacked, 4 of his bodyguards were injured by an explosion of a mine laid on the side of the road ^[28] .

On November 18, 2007, US soldiers shot a civilian vehicle in the city (two people were killed and four more were injured) ^[29] . The US military command acknowledged the incident and apologized. ^[30]

In February 2011, a fire broke out at a refinery located in the city, after which it ceased operation ^[31] .

On October 13, 2013, two cars with explosives exploded in the city, resulting in the death of 4 and 13 more injured ^[32] .

In September 2015, an outbreak of cholera was recorded in the city ^[33] .

On April 30, 2016, two cars with explosives exploded in the city, killing 31 and injuring at least 52 more people ^[34] .

In July 2018, there were unrest in the city, two people were killed in a clash with government forces ^[35] .

Hundreds of palm groves surround Samava, especially in the southern and northern suburbs. Groves provide coolness in the conditions of a hot tropical climate.

The eastern side of the city has a more modern look and includes a number of houses built in the 1970-1980s, a stadium, as well as technical and polytechnic colleges and Qushla - the historical "Ottoman barracks".

The unemployment rate in the city is high, although agriculture and mining are developing.

As of December 1, 2005, the population of the city was estimated at 250 thousand inhabitants ^[7] .

The city is mainly inhabited by Shiites. Jews used to live in the city, but in the 1940-1950s, they were persecuted by Arab nationalists and mostly left the city. Today, the city retains a small diaspora of Assyrian Christians.

In the 1970s, the largest cement plants in the Middle East were built in Samawa with a total production capacity of 2.85 million tons per year. Now they, in addition to the Southern cement plant, are inactive. Five new cement plants with a capacity of 9 million tons per year are being built on the outskirts of the city, they will provide employment for several thousand skilled and unskilled workers, as well as give 45% of Iraq's total cement needs ^{[ specify ]} .

During the hostilities of 2003, the city managed to preserve the industrial and agricultural sectors.

The city has a railway sorting station on the Baghdad - Basra line with repair shops.

Also on the outskirts of the city there are brick and carpet factories.

In the vicinity of the city, dates, wheat, barley, citruses and tomatoes are grown. Also rare wild truffles grow in the vicinity of the city.

Bahr al Milh , or the Salt Sea, is located 20 km southwest of Samawa and is the main source of industrial salts in Iraq.

• City Hospital ^{[6] [12]}
• Children's Hospital ^[12] with 260 beds (the only one in the province) ^[36]
• school for girls ^[7]
• football stadium ^[37] , which hosts the home football team of the local Samawa football team.

The most famous landmark of Samawa is the ruins of the ancient Sumerian city ​​of Uruk , which date back to 4000 BC. e.

A barn on the east bank of the river, built during the Ottoman Empire.

25 km north of the city center is a large salt lake called Sava, next to which is a tourist camp, now in decline. The lake has no obvious source, and the water in it is extremely salty, living organisms do not survive in it. A unique feature of the lake is that its water level is above ground level.

• Khalid al-Maali is an Arab writer, poet, and publicist.
• Al-Samawi Yahya ( Yahia al-Samawy ) - a famous poet of Iraqi origin, living in Australia
• Al-Mutanabbi ( Al-Mutanabbi ) - one of the most prominent Arab poets
• Shaker Hasan al-Said ( Shaker Hasan al Said ) - artist, one of the first representatives of modern Iraqi art, co-founder of the "Baghdad Group" of contemporary art