Dhi Qar Governorate

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Dhi Qar Governorate (Arabic: ذي قار)
Country	Iraq
Capital	An Nasiriyah
Area
- Governorate	12,900 km²  (4,980.7 sq mi)
Population (2003)
- Governorate	1,454,200
Main language(s)	Kurdish Arabic

Dhi Qar (Arabic: ذي قار) is a province in Iraq with an area of 12,900 square kilometers (4,980.7 sq mi). In 2003 the estimated population of the governorate was 1,454,200 people. The governorate's capital is the city of An Nasiriyah. It also includes the ancient Sumerian ruins of Ur, Eridu, Lagash and Girsu. Before 1976 the province was known as Muntafiq Province.

Contents 1 Dhi Qar today 1.1 The proposal of "Southern region" 1.2 The cities of the province 1.3 An anti-Baath province

[edit] Dhi Qar today

[edit] The proposal of "Southern region"

A proposal to join Dhi Qar with the governorates of Basra and Maysan to form a southeastern state in an eventual Iraqi federation is currently in the talking stages.[1]

In October 2006, Parliament approved a law that allows, from April 2008, the possibility of fusion between two or more provinces.

[edit] The cities of the province

Dhi Qar governorate includes the towns of al-Rifai, Qalat Sukar, al-Shatra, al-Gharraf and Suq al-Shuyouk.

[edit] An anti-Baath province

The governorate was notorious in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's era of dictatorship as one of the most troublesome spots for the Baath government. In 1991 the governorate fell to Islamist groups as part of a wider uprising that failed to topple the Saddam Hussein government.^{[citation needed]}

An Nasiriyah witnessed some of the heaviest fighting and some of the stiffest resistance against invading U.S. forces in 2003.^{[citation needed]}

Dhi Qar was the second Iraqi province to be handed over to the Iraqi Security Forces, the first being Al Muthanna. The province achieved Provincial Iraqi Control on Sept. 21 2006 from Italian forces, in a ceremony presided by Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. [2]