HEYET Net - The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) Southern Branch published the 28th of weekly report on the situation in Basra City.

Basra Governorate

Basra is located at remote southern part of Iraq bounded from the south of Kuwait and the Gulf Arab from east of Iran. 

The city had been built during the era of Rashed Caliph Omar ibn Al-Khattab (pbuh) in 14 e / 635 m by the Islamic Arab army because it was close to the river oversees the plains, fertile valley and near to the outskirts and pastures.

The province of Basra located 549 km south of Baghdad at the head of the Arab Gulf. It is described as gaps of Iraq performing only for him to reach the outside world by three global maritime routes through the port of Umm Qasr, the port of Mina al-Bakr and al Ameeq Port. It also linked by air via its international airport reaching through all the world capitals. Basra has also linked to five roads, including four roads for cars and one the train through the highway. It has two roads and two rivers with the capital city and the country's governorates across the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

Security and political scene

Eyewitnesses said that 4 people were injured by armed clashes erupted between gunmen and the army and government police last Monday 19 May 2008 in a number of districts in the city. After gunmen opened fire on checkpoints of the army and police in the area of al Qabla, al Jomhouriyah. In the Qurnah area clashes caused the injury of four people, including two policemen.

Witnesses said that dozens of shops rushed to close down immediately in anticipation of an expansion in the clashes while people rushed to their homes.

another source said, in command of Basra that the joint force of army and police arrested at noon on Wednesday 21 May 2008 the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Basra, Dhiab al Mahsoub belong to al Sadr Movement. The joint forces arrested him of having a store including a large quantity of heavy and medium weapons in the university (10 kilometres north of the city). The source explained that security forces found a large cache of weapons in the building of a supplement containing the Faculty of Agriculture, mortar shells and Katyusha rockets in addition to military communication devices.

On Friday, 23 May 2008 the government forces prevented al Sadr Movement members from the Friday prayers at all mosques in the city used bullets to disperse worshippers at a time when security forces forbidden them to do this action!!

Ahmad Masood deputy of Sadrist bloc said: "worshippers tried to hold prayers in the streets and squares outside mosques, but they encountered gunfire by security forces resulting dispersion." Masoud pointed out that al Sadr Movement "sent a delegation to negotiate with the security agencies in the city to find out the reasons of the event informing them that it was due to the orders of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and did not mention more. "

Various Events

On the other hand a source at police headquarters said that unknown gunmen assassinated the owner of one Exchange Company in city center on the afternoon on 24 May 2008, Saturday.

The source who asked to remain anonymous said unknown gunmen riding in the car entered to the company (al Mawali) of the Exchange at 14 July Street killing the owner of the company by handguns. The source said the gunmen fled after the implementation of the crime. 

On another event, a government army force stormed one building housing belong to the Iranian Consulate located in al Ashari area (city center) as part of the inspections and raids campaign by the army within the so-called (Arriving Knights). The forces benefited from some specific information taken inside Iranian territory. 

8000 persons from the Mahdi Army militia have arrived to the Iranian territory escaping from the government security forces pursuing them, most of them were wanted for the government.

 
As the command of Basra on Sunday morning, 25 May 2008 launched since early morning raid and search operations for the role in the district of Al Zubair in the latter part of the military operation. The units of the army have been involved to the operation in search of who called wanted. They have caught a number of persons and found large quantities of ammunition and arms. These forces put restrictions and completely closed entry and exit from al-Zubayr as a security measure for the success of the process.

This has escalated in recent conflicts between the Maliki government against the background of prospects for the disqualification of directors in a number of sensitive sites in the governorate against Fadila and Sadr Movements. The Governorate Council has unanimously decided to refuse the maintenance of the general manager of the South Oil Company, Jabbar Laibi according to Deputy President of the province Jasim al-Abadi.

Al-Abbadi accused some ministries including the Ministry of Oil to "implement a political agenda through the replacement of senior officials," adding that "those who have been replaced are belong to a political one" and pointed to the disqualification of the Director of Basrah International Airport, the director of tankers and Director of the South Oil Company, and expected that this will be soon Director of the Basra refinery. "four directors are belong to the Islamic Fadilah (Virtue) Party which was part of the United Iraqi Alliance.

Opening the international book fair in Basra

International Book Fair in Basra opened on Tuesday, 20 May 2008 with the participation of publishing houses of Egyptian, Jordanian, Iranian, Lebanese and Syria as well as publishing houses in Iraq. The exhibition included more than 92 parts, more than 30 thousand titles. In this regard, the Director of the exhibition Bahaa Hamza Abbas told to the reporters that the aim of opening this exhibition is to spread scientific and cultural awareness within Iraqi society and access to foreign literature and publications. He added that more than 30 thousand title of the book have been displayed in the exhibition, although the number of visitors - exceeded than they have expected. He confirmed that many people come to buy books pointing out that the exhibition will run for ten days.

Risks of pollution and mines

Iraq is one of the most polluted countries in the world, and much of this pollution is due to mine fields planted since the eighties of the last century during the Iran-Iraq War. Those mines were planted during the conflicts in 1991-2003, the ongoing acts of violence and consequences of all these factors often hit many civilians and residential areas.

To take the example of Basra City shows the sizes of the pollution, as indicated by government officials and experts working in international bodies and organizations. Every citizen in Basra are threatened by the dangers of four mines at the very least, to contain a third of minefields planted in Iraq, amounting to 25 million mines, and thus a mine threats the real danger to the lives of the citizens of Basra Governorate in southern Iraq.

The expert Faisal Kazaz said, "The most dangerous minefields are deployed in areas of Abu al-Khasib, al Faw, Barjisiyah, Rumaila, Shalamjah, Southern al Badiyah and Safwan", pointing out to 13 villages in the district of the Shatt al-Arab as one of the most dangerous minefields. Kazaz added that: "The international organizations arrived to identify minefields and bombs - in the region 2057, including 96 villages where remnants of war is very serious and 178 village uninhabitable for the time being of the total 622 villages where the mine fields reached an area of 177 square kilometers. "

HEYET Net