Baqubah Explained

Official Name:Baqubah
Native Name:بَعْقُوبَة
Native Name Lang:ar
Nickname:(The house of Punishment) بيت العقوبة
Pushpin Map:Iraq
Pushpin Map Caption:Baqubah location within Iraq
Coordinates:33.75°N 82°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Iraq
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Subdivision Name1:Diyala Governorate
Population As Of:2024
Population Footnotes:[1]
Population Total:366,000

Baqubah (Arabic: بَعْقُوبَة; BGN: Ba‘qūbah; also spelled Baquba and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate. The city is located some 50km (30miles) to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River. In 2003 it had an estimated population of some 280,000 people. Baqubah served as a way station between Baghdad and Khorasan on the medieval Khorasan Road. During the Abbasid Caliphate, it was known for its date and fruit orchards, irrigated by the Nahrawan Canal. It is now known as the centre of Iraq's commercial orange groves.

Demography and ethnography

Demographic composition of Baqubah has been a shifting phenomenon since the independence of Iraq. Consequently, the city served as a springboard for violence against the Shias in Baghdad and others, from 2003 to 2008 (see below for chronological detail). Then in 2014, it became a seat for the ISIS terrorists, raining violence against the Shia population once again. Following these events, the Iraqi Shia militias such as the Kata'ib Hezbollah, have exacted revenge on the Sunni population of the city and the countryside around it alike by killing thousands of families and forced migration and conversions. A stream of Shia settlers are arriving (or being directed to) settle in Baqubah and the neighborhood, in order to avoid a future repeat of the same by the Sunni majority. Both the western and eastern halves of the city straddling the Diyala River have now obtained large and grow Shia minorities, with the eastern half outpacing the other in this respect.

History

Baqubah's name originates from the Aramaic words "Bet" (house) and "aquba" (Guardian or Punishment) meaning "The house of Punishment/The Guardian's house".[2] The city was used as a refugee camp for Assyrian refugees fleeing the Assyrian genocide.[3] A refugee camp was set up outside the city, which accommodated between 40,000 and 50,000 refugees.[4]

The camp set up by British mandate government in Iraq housed Assyrians and Armenians following the 1915 Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The camp was ruled by military authority and the later Assyrians living in the camp were recruited to serve in the Iraq Levies Forces.[5]

Medieval history

Baqubah was probably founded during the Sasanian period.[6]

At the time of the Abbasid caliphate, Baqubah lay on the Nahrawan canal, at the end of the canal's Great Qātūl stage and the beginning of its Tāmarrā stage. Although the main road heading east to Khorasan from Baghdad bypassed Baqubah during this period, passing instead through the city of Jisr Nahrawan, it was Baqubah and not Jisr Nahrawan that was the capital of the Upper Nahrawan district.[7]

However, the succeeding Seljuk sultans neglected to dredge the Nahrawan canal or otherwise maintain it, and by the time of Yaqut al-Hamawi in the early 1200s, the canal had completely silted up and the lands it had once watered had gone out of cultivation.[8] By the 14th century, Hamdallah Mustawfi wrote that Jisr Nahrawan was in ruins, and the road to Khorasan now passed through Baqubah instead. Baqubah was the main town in the Tarīq-i-Khurāsān district, and it was surrounded by fertile orchards that produced large crops of oranges and pomelos.[9]

In Yaqut's time, Baqubah was a flourishing town, with several public baths and mosques, as well as a market. The land around Baqubah was densely covered in irrigated orchards, whose dates and lemons were proverbial for their excellence.[10]

Modern history

In the early 1800s, Baqubah was surrounded by date palm groves, as well as orchards producing lemons, pomegranates, and other fruits.[11] In 1820, Baqubah is described as being home to 2,000 people, of whom almost half were Shi'ite. It had a bazaar and two small mosques.[12]

In the early 1820s, though, the Kurdish army of Mohammad Ali Mirza, governor of Kermanshah, occupied Baqubah and destroyed much of it. A decade later, it was still in ruins. By 1845, the bazaar and one of the mosques were functioning again, and local agriculture was flourishing. By the early 1870s, the Ottoman civil administration had managed to restore stability to the region, and Baqubah became increasingly prosperous.[13] Around the turn of the century, one European traveler described its connections to emerging networks of world commerce:

Recent history

During the course of the US-led occupation of Iraq, Baquba emerged as the scene of some of the heaviest guerrilla activity, along with the Sunni enclaves of Fallujah and Ramadi. It was the site of the heaviest fighting during the June 24, 2004, insurgent offensive. Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, took responsibility for the attacks.In a setback for insurgents, Iraqi and U.S. officials confirmed on June 7, 2006, that Zarqawi had been killed in an airstrike and subsequent raid 8km (05miles) north of Baquba.[14] During late 2006, however, Baqubah and majority of Diyala Governorate were reported to have come under Sunni insurgent control.[15] On January 3, 2007 the previous Iraqi government in Baquba was reported to have fallen, leaving the city in the hands of insurgents fighting against the American led coalition in Operation Iraqi Freedom. During this time, the city was reportedly under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq.

In January 2007, it was reported that Sunni insurgents were able to kidnap the mayor and blow up his office, despite promises from American and Iraqi military officials that the situation in the city was "reassuring and under control".[16] The city at its peak had over 460,000 residents, but a February 2007 report labeled the city a "ghost town" as residents either fled criminal and sectarian violence or remained in hiding at home.[17]

On August 10, 2015 a suicide car bombing near Baqubah killed 30 and wounded 40 people. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

Attacks during Iraq War

The following is a list of deadly attacks in the city including the death of al-Zarqawi and after.[18]

June 24, 2004, Capt. Christopher Cash and Spec.4 Daniel Desens Jr, of A Co 1-120th INF BN, North Carolina National Guard, were killed in action during attacks by a large well-coordinated insurgent force attempting to take key points around the city.

Operation Arrowhead Ripper

See main article: Operation Arrowhead Ripper.

On June 19, 2007, U.S. forces launched a large-scale operation against Sunni militants in Baquba. The offensive, Operation Arrowhead Ripper, involved approximately 10,000 coalition soldiers.[23]

Lingering legacy of Ba'ath Party and Saddam Hussein

Along with the city of Fallujah, Baqubah has kept the names of monuments and mosques named after some of the most controversial officers and campaigns of the Baath Party. For example, still today, a large mosque named after Adnan Khairallah is found in the city. There is also an Izzat Ibrahim mosque in Baqubah (and another one in its satellite town of Buhriz), named likewise after a high officer of Saddam Hussein. Furthermore, Baqubah also hosts a mosque named the Anfal mosque, which echoes the name of the Anfal Campaign, which involved the mass killing of the Kurds under the supervision of Adnan Khairallah. These, like other Baath Party-related names, are controversial among Iraqi Shia and Kurds who lost so many lives to the abuses of the Ba'ath Party, Saddam Hussein and military/security figures like Adnan Khayrullah and Izzat Ibrahim.

Climate

Baqubah has a hot desert climate (BWh) in the Köppen–Geiger climate classification system. In winter there is more rainfall than in summer. The average annual temperature in Baqubah is 22.8°C. About 186mm of precipitation falls annually.

Transport

Baqubah is connected by highway to Baghdad and Mandali.[24]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Baqubah, Iraq Metro Area Population 1950-2024 . 2024-03-16 . www.macrotrends.net.
  2. Web site: Ba?qubah [Baqubah]]. John Pike. May 10, 2016.
  3. Web site: Ba'qubah. Global Security. 2009-09-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090902223538/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/baqubah.htm. September 2, 2009 . live.
  4. Book: Austin, H. H. . The Baqubah Refugee Camp: An Account of Work on Behalf of the Persecuted Assyrian Christians. Georgias Press . 2006 . 9781593334017 . 2009-09-14.
  5. Book: Dawood, Fadi . State and Society in Iraq: Citizenship Under Occupation, Dictatorship and Democratisation . IB Tauris . 2017 . 978-1784533199 . 2023-01-02.
  6. Adams (1965), p. 94–96
  7. Le Strange (1905), p. 59
  8. Le Strange (1905), pp.59–60
  9. Le Strange (1905), p. 61
  10. Adams (1965), pp. 94–96
  11. Adams (1965), pp. 94–96
  12. Buckingham, J.S. (1830). 1:15. Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia'. 2 volumes. London.'
  13. Adams (1965), pp. 94–96
  14. News: Zarqawi killed in Iraq air raid. BBC News. June 8, 2006 . May 10, 2016.
  15. Web site: Reporting under al-Qaida control. May 10, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160119055306/http://onthescene.msnbc.com/baghdad/2006/12/reporting_under.html. January 19, 2016. dead.
  16. Web site: Inside Baghdad: A city paralysed by fear . Patrick Cockburn . January 25, 2007 . The Independent . 2010-05-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080708202127/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2183852.ece . July 8, 2008 . mdy .
  17. Web site: Lawlessness turns Baquba into ghost town. CNN. May 10, 2016.
  18. https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_baqouba_glance
  19. Web site: SSG David S. Perry. Honored MPs. The Anniston Star. 18 June 2015.
  20. Web site: Cpt George A Woods.
  21. Web site: Army Staff SGT. Michael J. Sutter| Military Times .
  22. News: Humayun Khan's grave becomes a shrine in the wake of his father's speech . The Washington Post . live . Katie Zezima . August 1, 2016 . https://archive.today/20210114172409/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/humayun-khans-grave-becomes-a-shrine-in-the-wake-of-his-fathers-speech/2016/08/01/8ec0f69e-57ea-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html . January 14, 2021 . August 3, 2016 .
  23. News: U.S. military launches operation against al Qaeda in Iraq . . 19 June 2007 . 2007-06-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070618230941/http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/18/iraq.main/index.html. June 18, 2007 . live.
  24. Al-Hashimi . Mohammad Ali . Saleh . Salah A.H. . Muhsen . Amjad Nasser . The Evaluation of Public Services in Baqubah City By Using Remote Sensing & GIS Techniques . Journal of Planner and Development . 2008 . 6 . 18 . 72–85 . 15 April 2020.

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