Al Anbar

Al Anbar
Name	Al Anbar Governorate
Native name	الأنبار
Capital	Ramadi
Largest city	Fallujah
Area km2	138501
Population estimate	2,000,000
Population estimate year	2020
Governor	Raja Habib Al-Saadi
Country	Iraq
Coordinates	33.0000°N 43.5000°E
Timezone	Arabia Standard Time (UTC+3)

Al Anbar is a large governorate in western Iraq that borders Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. It encompasses desert plains, the middle stretch of the Euphrates River, and several historic oasis towns. The governorate has been a focal point in modern conflicts involving Iraq War (2003–2011), the rise of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and regional security dynamics involving Coalition Provisional Authority activities.

Etymology and Name

The governorate's Arabic name, الأنبار, traces to historical uses in medieval Arab geographers and travelers such as Al-Idrisi and Al-Muqaddasi, who recorded the region's association with caravan storage and reed beds near the Euphrates River. European cartographers in the era of Ottoman Empire mapping, including Ottoman–Persian War era surveys, adopted transliterations that entered colonial-era maps used by British Mandate of Mesopotamia administrators and later by Iraqi state institutions. Modern Iraqi legal documents and statutes formalized the current romanization used in international diplomacy with states like Syria and Jordan.

Geography and Climate

Located in the western reaches of Mesopotamia, the governorate occupies part of the Syrian Desert and the Iraqi desert plains. Major fluvial features include the middle course of the Euphrates River with urban centers such as Ramadi and Fallujah sited along its banks; nearby tributaries connect to irrigation systems historically described by Ibn Khaldun and Al-Baladhuri. The climate is arid, with hot summers influenced by the Shamal winds and cold winters occasionally affected by incursions from the Anatolian Plateau, generating dust storms recorded by NASA satellite observations and chronicled in reports by United Nations Environment Programme missions.

History

Settlement in the region dates to antiquity, with links to Babylonian Empire, Assyrian Empire, and later Seleucid Empire administrative networks. During the Umayyad Caliphate and Abbasid Caliphate, towns along the Euphrates served as stops on routes connecting Kufa and Basra with Levantine cities like Damascus. Under the Ottoman Empire the area formed part of the vilayets that corresponded with tribal territories recognized by the Treaty of Sèvres diplomatic aftermath and later mapped by British Army surveys during the World War I Mesopotamian campaign. In the late 20th century, the governorate became strategic during the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), the Gulf War (1990–1991), and the Iraq War (2003–2011), featuring operations involving units of the United States Army, British Army, and Iraqi security forces such as the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police. The rise of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the 2010s brought battles including the Siege of Fallujah (2016) and the Battle of Ramadi (2015), followed by recapture campaigns coordinated with Popular Mobilization Forces and multinational coalitions.

Demographics and Society

The population is predominantly Arab Sunni tribes such as the Dulaim confederation and families centered in towns like Haditha, Rutuha and Heet. Tribal leaders historically negotiated with authorities from the Ottoman Empire through the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq and the Republic of Iraq administrations. Displacement during campaigns against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant produced refugee movements recorded by International Organization for Migration, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and humanitarian agencies such as Doctors Without Borders and International Committee of the Red Cross. Social networks include religious institutions like Sunni mosques associated with scholars influenced by texts from jurists in Najaf and social exchanges with neighboring urban centers like Baghdad and Mosul.

Economy and Infrastructure

Historically reliant on irrigation agriculture along the Euphrates River, cultivation of dates and cereals linked the governorate to markets in Basra and Baghdad via caravan routes recorded by Marco Polo and later by Ottoman caravanserais. Contemporary infrastructure includes road corridors connecting to Highway 1 (Iraq), power stations affected by post-2003 reconstruction projects funded through agreements with international actors such as United States Agency for International Development and projects coordinated by World Bank. Oil extraction near fields historically surveyed by the Iraq Petroleum Company and pipelines toward export terminals intersect with security concerns involving Kurdistan Regional Government negotiations and regional energy geopolitics involving Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Governance and Administrative Divisions

Administratively the governorate is divided into districts including Ramadi District, Fallujah District, Haditha District, Heet District, and Karma District among others established under laws promulgated by the Republic of Iraq parliament. Provincial governance has included positions filled through appointments by national figures such as former prime ministers like Nouri al-Maliki and Haider al-Abadi, and by local councils elected under frameworks set by the Iraqi Governing Council and subsequent electoral laws monitored by the Independent High Electoral Commission.

Culture and Heritage

Cultural heritage includes archaeological sites with artifacts linked to Sumerian and Babylonian layers and Islamic-era architecture referenced by historians such as Al-Tabari and Ibn al-Athir. Cities host traditions of oral poetry tied to tribal customs and crafts like date cultivation and tent weaving documented by ethnographers connected to institutions such as British Museum and Smithsonian Institution. Preservation efforts involve cooperation with agencies like UNESCO and international archaeologists responding to damage during conflicts documented alongside initiatives by Iraqi Ministry of Culture and nongovernmental organizations.

Category:Governorates of Iraq