Iskandariya
Encyclopedia
Iskandariya is an ancient city in central Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, one of a number of towns in the Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
named after Alexander the Great (Iskander in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
). It is largely populated by Sunni Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, and is located about 25 miles (40 km) south of Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, near the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
River.
History
In ancient times Iskandariya stood half way between BabylonBabylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
(the place of Alexander's death) and Seleucia on the Tigris
Seleucia on the Tigris
Seleucia , also known as Seleucia on the Tigris, was one of the great cities of the world during Hellenistic and Roman times. It stood in Mesopotamia, on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the smaller town of Ctesiphon, in present day Babil Governorate, Iraq.-Seleucid empire:Seleucia,...
(the capital of the Seleucid Empire
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
, very near to modern Baghdad).
As of now, most of the town is made up of slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
s. Buildings are built from brick, mud, and sheet metal. The nearby city of Musayyib
Musayyib
Musayyib is a city in the Babil Province, Iraq. As of 2003, its population is 279,939. Musayyib sits on both the east and west banks of the Euphrates River, which splits into the Hindiya and Hilla branches just south of the city. Musayyib's municipal government has heavy representation from the...
houses the largest power plant in Iraq, made by Russian engineers. The Hateen Munitions Complex located in and around Iskandariya housed the majority of the munitions for the former regime. There are also apartments in Iskandariya, called the Hateen Apartments, which received their name from all the workers at the munitions plant living there.
Saddam Hussein's nuclear programme
During the late 1980s, Iskandariya was the site of a major element of Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's programme to acquire nuclear weapons. The Al Qaqaa State Establishment, located in the town, is believed to be have been put in charge of developing the non-nuclear components for a nuclear weapon. It was subsequently inspected by United Nations weapons inspectors and officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
(IAEA). In 1989, the British journalist Farzad Bazoft
Farzad Bazoft
Farzad Bazoft was an Iranian-born journalist who settled in the United Kingdom in the mid-1970s. He worked as a freelance reporter for The Observer. He was arrested by Iraqi authorities and executed in 1990 after being convicted of spying for Israel while working in Iraq.Bazoft relocated to the...
was arrested there after visiting Iskandariya to check reports that an explosion at the Al Qaqaa plant had killed 7000 people. He was subsequently executed by the Iraqi authorities.
The town is also the location of a major factory, the al-Quds General Company for Mechanical Industries. In 2001, the Iraqi government explored the possibility of establishing a joint Iraqi-Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
ian tractor factory on the site.
Events during Iraq War (2003-present)
Iskandariya is one of the last big towns before Baghdad and possesses a major military air base, and as such was a major target for United States forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
. It fell quickly but was subsequently the scene of a number of lethal insurgent
Insurgent
Insurgent, insurgents or insurgency can refer to:* The act of insurgency-Specific insurgencies:* Iraqi insurgency, uprising in Iraq* Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, uprising in India* Insurgency in North-East India...
attacks against the occupying forces and the post-Saddam Iraqi security forces. On June 19, 2003, a soldier from the 804th Medical Brigade was killed when the military ambulance in which he was traveling was hit by a rocket propelled grenade
Rocket propelled grenade
A rocket-propelled grenade is a shoulder-fired, anti-tank weapon system which fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. These warheads are affixed to a rocket motor and stabilized in flight with fins. Some types of RPG are reloadable while others are single-use. RPGs, with the exception of...
near Iskandariya. Another attack, on may 11th 2007, killed a soldier from the 18th Military Police Brigade
18th Military Police Brigade (United States)
The 18th Military Police Brigade is a military police brigade of the United States Army based in Sembach, Germany, with subordinate battalions and companies stationed throughout Germany...
. Three US Marines were killed by a roadside bomb on January 28, 2004 and another bombing on February 4 killed yet another soldier.
Forward Operating Base Iskan, or FOB Iskan a U.S. Military installation was established in Iskandariya in May 2003.
On February 10, a car bomb
Car bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
outside a police station killed at least 45 Iraqis and wounded 150. No coalition forces were killed or injured, but commentators suggested that the attack was both a strike against pro-coalition Iraqi forces and an attempt to create conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
This town is the location of Al Qa'qaa
Al Qa'qaa
The Al Qa'qaa State Establishment in Iraq was a massive weapons facility 48 kilometres south of Baghdad. It is near to the towns of Yusifiyah and Iskandariya at the geographic coordinates...
, a major industrial facility and the location of the Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy
Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy
The Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy concerns the possible removal by Baathist insurgents of about 377 tonnes of high explosives HMX and RDX after the 2003 invasion of Iraq....
.