Al Anbar Governorate

Al Anbar Governorate Arabic: محافظة الأنبار
Governorate
Country	Iraq
Capital	Ramadi
Area
• Total	137,808 km2 (53,208 sq mi)
Population  (2003)
• Total	1,230,000
Main language(s)	Arabic

Al Anbar (Arabic: الأنبار; al-’Anbār or Anbar) is the largest province in Iraq geographically. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Al Anbar is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim Arab. Its capital is Ar Ramadi.

The name of the province originally comes from Persian. Anbār (انبار) is a Persian word meaning "arsenal", originally from the Middle Persian Ambarag. Through the assimilation of Persian words into the Arabic language during the Islamic Conquest of Iran, the word came to mean "granaries" in Arabic. The province was named as such because it was the primary entrepôt on the western borders of the Lakhmid Kingdom.

The province was known as Dulaim until 1962 when it was changed to Ramadi. In 1976 it was renamed Al Anbar.

Al Anbar was set to be the first Sunni-majority governorate of Iraq to have security duties transferred to Provincial Iraqi Control; however, the transfer ceremony was delayed due to a sandstorm. After these delays, though, the transfer has now taken place, making Anbar the 11th governorate to be handed over to Provincial Iraqi control.

Geography of Al Anbar

Geographically, Anbar province consider part of the Arabian Peninsula. Characterized by desert climate, and low rainfall and high variation heat between day and night. Where summer temperatures rise to 42 degrees Celsius, in the winter down amounted to 9 degrees Celsius. the northwesterly winds and south-west sometimes amounting to a maximum speed of 21 m / sec. Average rainfall in winter to 115 mm.

The most important agricultural crops in Al-Anbar are wheat, potatoes, autumn, barley, maize and vegetables and fodder. The is also a large number of orchards and has 2.5 million palm trees. Agriculture depends on perfusion or through the rivers and the wells and the rains.

Al Anbar

The Euphrates River flows diagonally from the north to the southeast, passing through six of the eight districts:

• Al-Qa'im district
• Anah district
• Haditha district
• Hīt district
• Ramadi district
• Fallujah district

• Ar Rutba district forms the majority of the Governorate's area, occupying the large desert area in the southwest.

Cities and The Population

Historical population

In the 1920s, the province had 250,000 people from a total population in Iraq of 2 million. It is believed that the total population of Anbar was between 2 to 6 million people in the 1960s but there are no precise statistics because Anbar was dangerous area at that time and the majority of the residents lived on the banks of the Euphrates River outside the cities and the towns, However there were between 1.9 million and 2.9 million inhabitants in the other districts of Al Anbar.

According to statistics of the Ministry of Commerce in 1999, there were about 1.5 million inhabitants in seven major cities in Al Anbar province.

According to the former regime, the cities of Fallujah (650,000) and Ramadi (700,000) had a population of over 1.3 million people.

According to UN statistics in 2003 the population of Al Anbar is 1,230,169. But the governor of Al Anbar Maamoon Sami Rasheed al-Alwani says "The UN statistics are incorrect and there no statistics included all the cities and towns in Al Anbar".

During the election for the provincial councils in 2005, turnout in the largely Sunni province was very low. Of the total population of some 2 million only 3775 voted.

Current population

There are no precise estimates of the population which include all of the cities and towns and villages in Anbar. According to a 2003 estimate by the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq, the population was 1,230,140.

Most of the inhabitants are Sunni Muslims from the Dulaim tribe.

List of cities and towns in Al-Anbar

• Ramadi — capital of Anbar
• Fallujah
• Al-Qaim
• Hīt
• Haditha
• Anah
• Rawah
• Kabisa
• Anbar
• Al Baghdadi
• Al-Nukhaib
• Akashat
• Tarbil
• Husaibah Al Sharqiah
• Amiriyah Fallujah
• Saqulauiah
• Al Sharqiah
• Al Waleed
• Sa'dah
• Al Saqrh
• Al Mamorha
• Al Enaimih
• Al Rummaneh
• Al Asarjirah
• Al Sujr
• Al Jabhah
• Al Rihaniah
• Al furaat
• Al Mhamady
• Al zawiah
• Al Karablah
• Al Ubaidi
• Baroana
• Al Khaldiya
• Al Habanyah
• Al Karmah
• Al Haqlaniyah
• Al Rahaliyah
• Ar Rutba

Provincial Government

• Governor: Maamoon Sami Rasheed al-Alwani
• Deputy Governor: Aref Mukhbar Saiad al-Alwani
• Deputy Governor: Othman T. Hamady
• Provincial Council Chairman (PCC): Abdulsalam Abdullah

History

Anbar is known for its inhabitants' strong tribal and religious traditions. Allegedly, former President Saddam Hussein was constantly wary of the volatile nature of the area.

Post-invasion

Maj. Gen. John Kelly and Gov. Maamoon Sami Rasheed al-Alwani sign provincial Iraqi control documents on Sep. 1, 2008.

The Iraqi resistance was widely considered to be stronger in this province than in any other in Iraq, and was the most hostile against American forces. The independent website iCasualties.org has reported that 1,298 U.S. soldiers have been killed in action in Anbar since the invasion. Many of these died in and around Fallujah and Ramadi.

In late 2005, a series of operations by U.S. forces was relatively successful in driving resistance from Anbar. Additionally, in early 2006, several clans — some including former insurgent groups, began efforts to drive out Al Qaeda militants. However, subsequent insurgent raids against Americans forces in the area, the increase of sectarian violence in Baghdad (that pushed many of the Sunni tribes back into alliances with militants) and the continued insurgent control of several cities in Anbar showed that fighting in the region was far from over.

Reports in March 2006 suggested that the Anbar capital Ramadi had largely fallen under resistance control along with most of the region, as a result the US committed its reserve force, 3,500 soldiers from the 2nd brigade, 1st Armored Division, to re-establish control of the region.. This resulted in the Battle of Ramadi (2006), led by the 1st brigade of the 1st Armored Division.

The Washington Post reported on September 11, 2006 that, according to a classified U.S. Marine Corps report, "The prospects for securing that country's western Anbar province are dim and there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do there. Reporting that there are no functioning Iraqi government institutions in Anbar, leaving a vacuum that has been filled by the insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq, which had become the province's most significant political force. Another person familiar with the report said it describes Anbar as beyond repair; a third said it concludes that the United States has been defeated in Anbar."

In November 2006, another part of the same U.S. military report was filed, confirming the earlier warning that Anbar was falling under insurgent control. The report stated that "the social and political situation has deteriorated to a point that U.S. and Iraqi troops are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency in al-Anbar," and that "nearly all government institutions from the village to provincial levels have disintegrated or have been thoroughly corrupted and infiltrated by Al Qaeda in Iraq, or a smattering of other resistance groups." leaving the insurgency and Al Qaeda in Iraq as the "dominant organization of influence in al-Anbar,"

In late 2006 the United States changed strategies in Anbar. It negotiated with tribal leaders including Sheikh Abu Risha and agreed on establishing Iraqi police in Anbar. U.S. forces would also withdraw from cities of Anbar and would release Sunni detainees.

A New York Times article in April 2007 described Anbar as "undergoing a surprising transformation. Violence is ebbing in many areas, shops and schools are reopening, police forces are growing." It continued, "Yet for all the indications of a heartening turnaround in Anbar, the situation, as it appeared during more than a week spent with American troops in Ramadi and Falluja in early April, is at best uneasy and fragile,", citing a lack of municipal services, weak local government, and failure to stop all the insurgent attacks. Still, "There are some people who would say we've won the war out here. I'm cautiously optimistic as we're going forward." This "turnaround" with alliance of local tribesmen would later become known as the "Anbar Awakening."

A changed U.S. strategy in early 2007 brought about astonishing changes so that by summer of 2008 Al Anbar was almost completely pacified. Civilian governments had been established in all important cities and the insurgency had degenerated to the status of criminal gangs. While Al Qaeda in Iraq could continue to mount terrorist attacks against civilian targets, they and the insurgency in general were broken as a significant fighting force.

In June 2008, it was announced that Anbar would be the tenth province to transfer to Provincial Iraqi Control, the first Sunni Arab region to be handed back. This handover was delayed due to bad weather, as well as an Al Qaeda in Iraq attack on a meeting between Sunni Sheikhs and U.S. Marines in Karmah which killed at least 23, including three Marines on June 26. The handover did occur on September 1, 2008.

See also

• First Battle of Fallujah
• Operation Phantom Fury
• Battle of Haditha
• Al-Anbar governorate council election, 2005
• Euphrates River
• Syrian Desert

External links

• US Army Captain Travis Patriquin presentation, "How to win in Al-Anbar" (Captain Patriquin USA, and Major Megan McClung USMC were both Killed by an IED, while escorting press in Anbar (one of whom was Oliver North)