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24-658: The disaster took place during a period of civil unrest, during a period of fighting between the Al-Muntafiq confederation and the Ottoman Empire . The fighting ended with an Al-Muntafiq leader being appointed as provincial governor and tax farmer by the Ottomans, creating problems with the tribes not allied to their confederation. Excavations at Dur-Sharrukin were being carried out by the new French consul , Victor Place , and in 1855 another shipment of antiquities

48-964: A fighting force compared to the camel-herding tribes of inner Arabia. Although the tribe's nominal leaders, the Al Saadun, are Sunnis , most of the tribe's members follow the Shi'ite sect of Islam . After many decades of sedentarization, the tribal bond has weakened and the leadership of the Al Saadun is largely nominal. Many stateless Bedoon in Kuwait belong to the Muntafiq tribal confederation. Nasiriya Nasiriyah ( UK : / ˌ n æ z ɪ ˈ r iː ə / NAZ -irr- EE -ə , US : / ˌ n ɑː s ɪ -/ NAH -sirr- ; Arabic : ٱلنَّاصِرِيَّة , romanized :  an-Nāṣiriyya , BGN : An Nāşirīyah , IPA: [ænnɑːsˤɪˈrɪjjæ] ), also spelled Nassiriya or Nasiriya ,

72-620: Is a city in Iraq , the capital of the Dhi Qar Governorate . It lies on the lower Euphrates , about 360 km (225 miles) south-southeast of Baghdad , near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur . Its population in 2018 was about 558,000, making it the ninth-largest city in Iraq . It had a diverse population of Muslims , Mandaeans and Jews in the early 20th century; today its inhabitants are predominantly Shia Muslims. Nasiriyah

96-399: Is not homogeneous in terms of sect/religion. Centuries of intermarriage and intermingling created a mix of Sunni and Shia tribes. Therefore, a minority of individual tribes within the confederation is Sunni. Overall, it is almost impossible to delineate who is, and who is not part of the Muntafiq. The tribe is divided into three main branches: Bani Malik, al-Ajwad, and Bani Sa'id. Most of

120-722: The mutassarif (tax collector) of Nasiriyah, and by 1908, he virtually governed southern Iraq on their behalf, having curried their favor by strongly supporting the 1908 Young Turk Revolution . It was a major center of trade in Ottoman Iraq and imported foreign goods via commerce with Baghdad and Basra . The chief commodities Nasiriyah produced included leather, grain and ghee . The town contained about 600 well-built stone houses, but most buildings and homes were constructed from mud brick . There were about 350 shops in Nasiriyah as well as five khans (inns). The area surrounding

144-556: The Euphrates River. In March 2003, Nasiriyah was one of the first major battles of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq . Phillip Mitchell of the International Institute for Strategic Studies so described the town's strategic importance to The Guardian : Nasiriyah is a major administrative headquarters and is also [Iraqi General] Majid's military district headquarters. It is a major strategic crossing point of

168-581: The Euphrates merges with the Tigris for the final time about 10 kilometres from the city. Nasiriyah features a hot desert climate ( BWh according to the Köppen climate classification ), with mild winters and very hot summers. Nasiriyah has an average annual mean of 25.0 °C (77.0 °F), an average annual high of 32.3 °C (90.1 °F) and an average annual low of 17.8 °C (64.0 °F). July,

192-471: The Euphrates. For all those reasons Nasiriyah will be well defended, which will slow the Mech [invasion] down for a while. On March 23, the U.S. invasion force was ambushed near the city: 11 US soldiers were killed and Army Private Jessica Lynch , Army Private Lori Piestewa and Specialist Shoshana Johnson were taken prisoners of war during the skirmishes. The Battle of Nasiriyah between Iraqi forces and

216-459: The Iraqi military with heavy loss of life and much physical damage. Many of its inhabitants were massacred by Iraqi government forces. Until the 2003 Iraq War , Nasiriyah was home to one of the largest communities of Mandaeans in Iraq. In Nasiriyah, Mandaeans mostly lived in the "Subba Quarter" ( Arabic : منطقة الصابئة , lit.   ' Sabian Zone'), located on the northern banks of

240-645: The Muntafiq sanjak ("district"). Nasir Pasha was the head of the Sunni Muslim al-Saadun clan, which was the ruling family of the Muntafiq whose tribesmen were mostly Shia Muslims . At the time of Nasiriyah's founding, Muntafiq power in the Basra Vilayet (southern Iraq) had increasingly given way to Ottoman centralization. However, Nasir Pasha was appointed by the Ottomans as the head of the vilayet (province) and registered large tracts of land around Nasiriyah into his name. His son, Saadun Pasha, became

264-516: The Ottoman authorities and frequently raided ships sailing by. During the journey, the convoy was boarded several times, forcing the crew to relinquish most of their money and supplies in order to be allowed further passage on the river. Once the convoy reached Al-Qurnah (Kurnah) it was assaulted by local pirates led by Sheikh Abu Saad , whose actions sank the main cargo ship and forced the four rafts aground shortly afterwards. The entire shipment

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288-529: The Ottoman era, most of the tribe settled into sedentary life and took up agriculture in southern and western Iraq. During the Ottoman era, from the late eighteenth century onwards, al-Muntafiq converted to Shia Islam. The city of Nasiriya in southern Iraq was named after one of the tribe's sheikhs, and the surrounding province was known as "Al-Muntafiq Province" until 1976. Those who were herders of small animals such as sheep and goat , rather than camels , and this made them less mobile and less competent as

312-617: The Saadun clan. They were traditional rivals of the Dhufir and of Ibn Saud, although Yusuf sometimes co-operated with Ibn Saud. The tribe migrated to Iraq during the Islamic conquests . In Ottoman times, the tribe held control over the region of Basrah under Ottoman suzerainty. In 1521, they successfully occupied al-Ahsa and al-Qatif (eastern Saudi Arabia today) on the Ottomans' behalf, before being expelled by Banu Khalid . During

336-587: The furthest point to which coalition forces penetrated Iraq, with the United States 82nd Airborne Division and elements of the 101st Airborne Division reaching the main road just outside the city. In March 1991, following the American withdrawal at the war's end, the Shia population of Nasiriyah took part in the revolt against the rule of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein . The revolt was violently subdued by

360-460: The month with the most precipitation days is January, which receives 27.4 millimetres (1.08 in) of precipitation on average over 7 precipitation days. Nasiriyah was founded in 1872 by Nasir al-Sadoon Pasha ( Arabic : ناصر السعدون باشا ), the sheikh ("chief") of the Muntafiq tribal confederation, after whom the city was named. During that same year, it became the administrative center of

384-543: The remainder of the population. The Iraqi Communist Party 's first cell was founded in Nasiriyah by Yusuf Salman Yusuf (known as "Fahd") in the 1930s. It was also the birthplace of Fuad al-Rikabi , who founded the Iraqi Baath Party in the 1950s. At the time, the Iraqi Baath consisted mostly of people from Nasiriyah, namely Rikabi's relatives and associates. During the 1991 Gulf War , Nasiriyah marked

408-448: The shipment. A cargo ship and four rafts were prepared to carry the artifacts , but even this substantial effort was overwhelmed by the sheer number of items to be transported. The cargo included: The cargo which survived the disaster was: The troubles began once the convoy left Baghdad in May 1855, as the banks of the river Tigris were controlled by local sheikhs who were hostile to

432-514: The time by the Ottoman Empire, in July 1915. Some 400 British and Indian and up to 2,000 Turkish soldiers were killed in the battle for Nasiriyah on 24 July 1915. In 1920, Nasiriyah had 6,523 inhabitants. The population was ethnically diverse with Arab Muslims accounting for 72.7% of the inhabitants, Jews 8%, Mandeans 9.7%, Persians 4.6%, Lurs 4.3% and Christians, Turks, and Indians forming

456-468: The town was abundant in date palms and grain fields. The town was not protected by a wall like other major administrative centers. In addition to the administrative functions it played for the Muntafiq district, Nasiriyah served as a government outpost and settlement in a generally nomadic region dominated by local Bedouin tribes. During World War I , the British conquered the city , controlled at

480-399: The tribe traces its genealogy to the tribe of Banu 'Uqayl of the large and ancient Banu 'Amir confederation of Najd . However, the tribe's traditional leaders are Al-Saadun ("the house of Saadun"), who are said to be Sharifs originating from Mecca , while the al-Ajwad branch is said to partially originate from the ancient Arab tribe of Tayy . The Muntafiq tribe was led by Yusuf Beg of

504-486: The warmest month, has a mean of 36.4 °C (97.5 °F) and an average high of 44.8 °C (112.6 °F) (August has the same average high), while the coolest month, January, has a mean of 11.6 °C (52.9 °F) and an average low of 6.2 °C (43.2 °F). Nasiriyah receives 127.7 millimetres (5.03 in) of precipitation annually over 42 precipitation days. Summer is drier than winter, and July and August receive no precipitation at all. The wettest month and

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528-598: Was almost completely lost with only 28 of over 200 crates eventually making it to the Louvre in Paris. Subsequent efforts to recover the lost antiquities, including a Japanese expedition in 1971-2, have been mostly unsuccessful. Al-Muntafiq Al-Muntafiq ( Arabic : المنتفق ) was a large Arab tribal confederation of southern Iraq and Kuwait . The confederation's tribes predominantly settled in Iraq's southern provinces and northern Kuwait. The confederation

552-498: Was founded by the Muntafiq tribe in the late 19th century during the Ottoman era. It has since become a major hub for transportation. Nasiriyah is the center of a date -growing area. The city's cottage industries include boat-building, carpentry and silver working. The city museum has a large collection of Sumerian , Assyrian , Babylonian , and Abbasid artifacts. The ruins of the ancient cities of Ur and Larsa are nearby and

576-486: Was ready to be sent back to Paris. Antiquities from Rawlinson's expedition to Kuyunjik and Fresnel 's to Babylon were subsequently added to the shipment. Place, who was French consul at Mosul , was unable to attend the shipment himself, as he had been summoned to his new consular post in Moldavia due to the ongoing Crimean War . He appointed a Swiss professor named A. Clément as his consular agent and to manage

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