{{short description|Governorate of Iraq}} {{redirect|al-Anbār|the ancient town|Anbar (town)}} {{Infobox settlement | official_name = Anbar Governorate | native_name = {{lang|ar| محافظة الأنبار}} | native_name_lang = ar | other_name = Anbar Province | settlement_type = [[Governorates of Iraq|Governorate]] | image_map = Al-Anbar in Iraq.svg | mapsize = 200px | coordinates = {{coord|32|54|N|41|36|E|region:IQ-AN_adm1st|display=inline,title}} | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|Iraq}} | seat_type = Seat | seat = [[Ramadi]] | leader_title = Governor | leader_name = Mohammed Nouri al-Karbouli | area_total_km2 = 138,501 | population_footnotes = | population_total = 2,004,418 | population_as_of = 2024 census | population_density_km2 = auto | blank_name_sec2 = [[Human Development Index|HDI]] (2024) | blank_info_sec2 = 0.723<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iraq National Human Development Report 2025 |url=https://www.undp.org/iraq/publications/iraq-national-human-development-report-2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251210012253/https://www.undp.org/iraq/publications/iraq-national-human-development-report-2025 |archive-date=2025-12-10 |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=UNDP |language=en}}</ref><br/>{{color|#0c0|high}} · [[List of Governorates of Iraq by Human Development Index|6th of 18]] | name = Al Anbar Province | image_skyline = {{Photomontage | photo1a = Inbound3292807512093856589نواعير حديثة.jpg | photo2a = Ramadi Aerial Picture - April 2008.jpeg | photo2b = الفلوجة.jpg | photo3a = هيت ام النواعير وعروس الفرات الاثرية.jpg | photo3b = عانة.jpg | photo4a = Photo of Hit Iraq.jpg | photo4b = | photo5a = | spacing = 2 | size = 280 | foot_montage = }} | image_flag = | image_seal = Emblem of Al Anbar Governorate.png | government_type = Provincial Government | governing_body = Council of Anbar Province | length_km = | area_water_km2 = 2,350 | elevation_m = 45 | elevation_max_m = 450 | elevation_min_m = 35 | area_rank = 1st | population_rank = [[Governorates_of_Iraq#Governorate|8th]] | timezone1 = [[UTC+3]] | width_km = | iso_code = IQ-AN | website = {{url|https://anbar.iq}} }}
'''Al Anbar Governorate''' ({{langx|ar|محافظة الأنبار}}; ''muḥāfaẓat al-’Anbār''), or '''Anbar Province''', is the largest [[Governorates of Iraq|governorate]] in [[Iraq]] by area. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with [[Syria]], [[Jordan]], and [[Saudi Arabia]]. The population is mostly [[Sunni]] [[Arabs]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anbar |url=https://euaa.europa.eu/country-guidance-iraq-2021/anbar |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=European Union Agency for Asylum |language=en}}</ref> The provincial capital is [[Ramadi]]; other important cities include [[Fallujah]], [[Al-Qa'im (town)|Al-Qa'im]], [[Rawah]] and [[Haditha]].
The governorate was known as Ramadi up to 1976 when it was renamed as Al Anbar governorate, and it was known as ''Dulaim'' before 1962. A large majority of the inhabitants of the province are [[Iraqi Sunni Arabs|Arab Sunni Muslims]] and most belong to the [[Dulaim]] tribe.
Al-Anbar Governorate, holding many Sunni previous supporters of [[Saddam Hussein]], was a [[Anbar campaign (2003–2011)|major center]] of the primarily [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]], [[Islamism|Islamist]] and [[Ba'athist insurgency in Iraq|Ba'athist-affiliated]] [[Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)|Iraqi insurgency]], being the place of the battles in [[Fallujah during the Iraq War|Fallujah]] and [[Battle of Ramadi (disambiguation)|Ramadi]].
In early 2014, the [[Islamic State]], with the assistance of some local Sunni militias, launched [[Anbar campaign (2013-14)|a successful campaign]] to seize control of the province from the Iraqi government. Numerous offensive actions were undertaken by the Iraqi government, with the assistance of local Sunni tribes to remove IS's occupation of the province, especially in the [[Anbar campaign (2015–16)]], the [[Western Anbar offensive (September 2017)]] and the [[2017 Western Iraq campaign]]. The area was effectively recaptured by the end of 2017 and has been at peace since then.
==Etymology== {{Unreferenced section|date=January 2023}} [[File:Ramadi Aerial Picture - April 2008.jpeg|thumb|Aerial view of the Euphrates River in [[Ramadi]], the capital of Anbar governorate.]] The name of the governorate in [[Persian language]] means "warehouse" or "silo". This was the last stop/warehouses on the old [[Silk Road]] toward Syria. The name is pre-Islamic. The name of the governorate is taken over from a historic city that was originally located on its territory and whose ruins can still be seen 5 km northwest of Fallujah near the city of [[Saqlawiyah]] today. This city of Anbār or [[Peroz-Shapur]] was founded in the 3rd century by the [[Muntherids]] and was, before the Arab conquest in 634, the second-largest city of Iraq. It was abandoned after the [[Mongol invasion of Iraq|Mongol invasion]] in the 14th century. A pseudo-authentication is offered by proposing that the name is Arabic and stands for "[[Granary|granaries]]" in [[Arabic]], further proposing the word Anbar (أنبار) to be the plural of Nbr (نبر) which meaning "[[grain]]s". The name was already in use in Pre-Islamic times during the [[Sasanian]] rule over Iraq, long before Arabic replaced [[Aramaic]] as the main language of Iraq.
Dulaim is the old name of the governorate due to the [[Dulaim]] tribe inhabiting the region. It was also called Liwa Al-Dulaim ({{lang|ar|لواء الدليم}}) in the Ottoman period and Sanjak Al-Dulaim in the seventeenth century.
== History ==
=== Caliphate period === {{see|Rashidun Caliphate|Umayyad Caliphate|Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid dynasty|Siege of Baghdad (1258)}} During the reign of [[Rashidun]] Caliph [[Abu bakr]] the conquest of Anbar was launched his successors conquered whole [[Middle East]].{{cn|date=March 2026}}
== Geography == Anbar is one of the driest governorates in Iraq's western desert climate. Some of Al Anbar is part of the [[Syrian Desert]], characterized by steppe and desert terrain. Most of Al Anbar is considered as a topographical continuation of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] plateau region. It has some small hills and a number of [[wadi]]s, including [[Wadi Hauran]]. Given a decline in land preservation and a lack of natural vegetation, the land is often exposed to the elements and prone to severe erosion.
Among the most important agricultural crops are [[potatoes]], which are harvested in spring and fall. [[Wheat]], [[barley]] and maize (corn) are also commonly grown in the governorate. Al Anbar is also known for the production of [[phosphate]]s and [[fertilizer]]. It is also rich in mineral such as [[sulphur]], [[gold]] and [[Oil reserves|oil]]. However, Anbar has not been extensively explored for oil. [[File:Al-Anbar map.svg|thumb|Al Anbar Governorate within Iraq]]
=== Climate === The average rainfall in Al Anbar is 115 millimeters (4.53 in) per year. Summer temperatures may reach as high as 52°C (125°F) and may fall as low as 0°C (32°F) in the winter. The [[Euphrates]] River is the main water source for residents of the governorate. The river flows southeasterly through seven of Al Anbar's districts: * [[Al-Qa'im District]] * [[Anah District]] * [[Haditha District]] * [[Hit District]] * [[Rawah District]] * [[Ramadi District]] * [[Fallujah District]] * [[Ar-Rutba District]]
==Government== * Governor: [[Sheikh Mohammed Ali Wilber|Sheikh Mohammed Ali Wilber Al-Dulaimi]] * Deputy Governor: [[Ibrahim Al Asal]] * Technical Governor's Councilor: [[Engineer Adil Bardan]] * Provincial Council Chairman (PCC): Ahmed Hamid al-Alwani<ref name="Political-crisis">{{cite news|title=Has political crisis in Iraq's Anbar reached a dead end?|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/12/anbar-fallujah-iraq.html|author=Omar Sattar|work=Al-Monitor|date=5 December 2016|access-date=2017-01-03}}</ref>
==Demographics== [[File:Cities of Anbar (CIA 2003).jpg|thumb|The main cities of Al Anbar]] {{Historical populations |title = |align = right |clear = |direction = |percentages = pagr |state = |type = |shading = off |width = |subbox = |pop_name = |year_name = Year |percent_name = |footnote = |source = Citypopulation<ref>{{cite web |title=Population of Governorates |url=http://www.citypopulation.de/en/iraq/cities/ |website=City Population |language=en}}</ref> |graph-pos = bottom |graph-width = |graph-height = |percol = |cols = |perrow = |rows = |1977 |466,100 |1987 |820,690 |1997 |1,023,736 |2009 |1,483,359 |2024 |2,004,418 }} In the 1920s, the governorate had a population of 250,000, as did [[Baghdad]], out of a total population of 2 million in Iraq. Today there are 9 million people living in Baghdad, among them a million Anbari people in the city and suburbs; their origins are the people of the Al-Anbar tribes that have moved to Baghdad during the past 500 years and their recent migrations there during the 1920s and 1930s.
Half of the residents in Anbar are living on the banks of the [[Euphrates River]] outside cities and the towns, there were between 1.9 million and 2 million inhabitants in the districts of Al Anbar.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parfit |first=Joseph T.|title=Marvellous Mesopotamia, The World's Wonderland|year=1920 |url=https://archive.org/details/marvellousmesopo00parfrich|publisher=S. W. Partridge & co., ltd|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/marvellousmesopo00parfrich/page/15 15]}}</ref> The largest cities are [[Ramadi]] (pop. 900,000) and Fallujah (700,000).
{| class="wikitable" |- |- | '''Districts''' | '''Population''' |- | [[Ramadi]] | 620,480 |- | [[Fallujah]] | 590,354 |- | Khalidiya | 44,274 |- | [[Hit, Iraq|Heet]] | 120,414 |- | Al-Qa'im | 180,646 |- | [[Ar-Rutbah|Rutba]] | 49,118 |- | Haditha | 107,384 |- | Anah | 38,154 |- | Rawa | 29,643 |} According to [[UN]] estimate in 2003 the population of Al Anbar is 1,230,169.<ref name=un>{{cite web|url=http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regions/south-central/provinces/english/anbar.html |website=iraqcoalition.org|title=UN Data 2003|access-date=2018-01-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215001031/http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regions/south-central/provinces/english/anbar.html|archive-date=2006-12-15|url-status=usurped}}</ref> 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.
It is estimated that around 90 percent of Anbar's inhabitants are adherents of the Sunni branch of Islam. The remaining ten percent are either [[Shia]]s or other minorities.<ref>{{cite web|title=Irakische Streitkräfte starten Rückeroberung Ramadis|url=http://www.dw.de/irakische-streitkr%C3%A4fte-starten-r%C3%BCckeroberung-ramadis/a-18477575|work=Deutsche Welle|access-date=2015-05-26}}</ref>
== Important mosques in Al Anbar Governorate == {{unreferenced section|date=June 2019}} The governorate contains a lot of [[mosque]]s, [[monument]]s, and [[shrine]]s. {| class="wikitable sortable |+ !Mosque !City |- |Great state Masjid |Ramadi |- |Great Masjid of Ramadi |Ramadi |- |Masjid of Sadiq al-Amin |Ramadi |}
== Governors Al Anbar Governorate (since 2003) == {{Main|List of Governors of Al Anbar Governorate}} {{unreferenced section|date=June 2019}} List of governors in post-Ba'athist Iraq: * Abdul Karim Bujras al-Rawi * Faisal Al Gaood (acting) * Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi * Mamoon Sami Rashid al-Alawani * Qasim Al-Fahadawi * Ahmad Khalaf Muhammed al-Dulaimi * Suhaib al-Rawi * Mohammed Rikan Al Halbousi * Ali Farhan Hameed
==Anbar during U.S. occupation== {{Main|Iraq War in Al Anbar Governorate}} [[File:Abandoned Iraqi FT-7 in front of the Al Asad ATC Tower.jpg|thumb|Abandoned Iraqi Air Force [[Chengdu J-7|J-7]] aircraft in front of the [[Al Asad Airbase]] ATC Tower]] The geographic challenge of the Anbar Governorate is demonstrated by two contrasting facts: while it is Iraq's largest governorate, it also is the most sparsely populated. For a governorate that is approximately the size of [[Bangladesh]], it is home to fewer than 1.8 million Iraqis. Most of the population lives in the major cities, like Ramadi and Fallujah, and almost everyone else lives within a short distance of the Euphrates River that snakes from Baghdad to the Syrian border near Al-Qa'im.<ref name="marines2007">{{cite web|url=https://www.marines.mil/unit/marforres/Documents/GWOT%202004-2007.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-07-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915231030/http://www.marines.mil/unit/marforres/Documents/GWOT%202004-2007.pdf |archive-date=2012-09-15 }}</ref> Its strategic challenge was demonstrated, in part, by casualty statistics. During the first four years of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the Anbar Province was the deadliest province for American service members, claiming approximately one-third of American fatalities.<ref name="marines2007" />
The Anbar Province was the Sunni stronghold that had long provided Saddam Hussein with the support he needed to remain in power.<ref name="marines2007" /> During the early years of Operation Iraqi Freedom, it provided an important base for Al Qaeda and insurgent operations.<ref name="marines2007" /> Part of its significance came from the fact that the Western Euphrates River Valley served as an important infiltration route for foreign fighters headed to Iraq's heartland.<ref name="marines2007" /> ''The New York Times'' compared this region to the [[Vietnam War]]'s [[Ho Chi Minh trail]], as foreign fighters and insurgents used the river valley to move in relative safety from the Syrian border to cities like Baghdad, Ramadi and Fallujah.{{citation needed|date=June 2014}} [[File:Three marines patrol along the Euphrates River during Operation Iron Fist.jpg|thumb|220x220px|[[United States Marine Corps|US Marines]] patrol along the [[Euphrates|Euphrates River]] in Anbar Province]] The contrast between the fertile Euphrates River Valley and the rest of the province is striking. Along the Euphrates, groves of fruits and vegetables and acre after acre of date palms are surrounded by a lushness that paints the area a vivid green. Just a few miles from the Euphrates, however, the barren landscape turns brown. With the exception of an occasional Bedouin, the desert is essentially empty. Whether traveling by aircraft, vehicle, or on foot, the Anbar Governorate is vast. During a time when [[land mine|mining]] roads became a strategy of choice for insurgents, the need to patrol and travel throughout the province became one of the Marine Corps' greatest challenges. The threat of insurgent activity, when combined with the challenges that long-distance travel, choking dust, and stifling heat created, made the Anbar Province a difficult area of operation.<ref name="marines2007" />
==Cities and towns== {{col-begin}} {{col-break}} *[[Ramadi]] *[[Fallujah]] *[[Al-Qa'im (town)|Al-Qaim]] *[[Hīt, Iraq|Hīt]] *[[Haditha]] *[[Anah]] *[[Rawah]] *[[Kabisa]] *[[Khan Al-Baghdadi|Al Baghdadi]] *[[Falahat]]
{{col-break}} *[[Nukhayb|An Nukhayb]] *[[Akashat]] *[[Tarbil]] *[[Husaibah Al Sharqiah]] *[[Amiriyah Fallujah]] *[[Saqlawiyah]] *[[An Nahidayn]] *[[Al Sharqiah]] *[[Al Waleed (town)|Al Waleed]] (Al Walid) *[[Sa'dah (Iraq)|Sa'dah]] *[[Al Saqrh]] {{col-break}} *[[Al Mamorha]] *[[Al Enaimih]] *[[Rumana subdistrict|Rumana]] *[[Al Asarjirah]] *[[Al Sujr]] *[[Al Jabhah, Iraq|Al Jabhah]] *[[Al Rihaniah]] *[[Al Furaat]] *[[Al Mhamady]] *[[Al Kasrah]] {{col-break}} *[[Al-Karābilah]] *[[Al Ubaidi]] *[[Barwanah]] *[[Al Khaldiya]] *[[Al Habbaniyah]] *[[Al-Karmah]] *[[Al Haqlaniyah]] *[[Ar Rahaliyah]] *[[Ar Rutbah]] {{col-end}}
==See also== *[[Sunni Region]] *[[Anbar campaign (2013–14)]] *[[2005 Al-Anbar governorate council election]] *[[Abdul Sattar Abu Risha]] *[[Anbar Awakening]] *[[First Battle of Fallujah]] *[[Operation Phantom Fury]] *[[Battle of Ramadi (disambiguation)|Battle of Ramadi]] *[[Battle of Haditha]]
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Governorates of Iraq}} {{Al Anbar cities}} {{Districts of Anbar}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Al Anbar Governorate| ]] [[Category:Governorates of Iraq]]