Second city central to allied campaign

In a country wracked by war and constant bloodshed the key city of Basra has been at the centre of all turmoil.

The ancient port is the first major city on the road to Baghdad and, as such, a strategic military target.

The road to Basra, dubbed the “Highway of Death”, provided some of the most shocking images of the first Gulf War, when thousands of fleeing Iraqi troops perished in wave after wave of US air bombardment.

Basra is Iraq’s second largest city, an important trade and commercial centre and the nation’s major port and home to many oil refineries.

Iraqi opposition sources also say the Khawr Al Zubayar factory at Basra produced heavy water used in the country’s atomic energy programme.

Situated in south east Iraq it is only 30 minutes’ drive from the Kuwaiti border where thousands of allied troops are massed.

It is also only 340 miles south of Baghdad, close to the border with Iran, and 75 miles from the open sea of the Persian Gulf.

Basra is on the vital Shatt al Arab waterway, the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates – without which Iraq would be effectively landlocked.

By Iraq standards Basra is still relatively prosperous and a city with choking traffic, busy mosques and bustling markets. People though are now buying only essentials – they anticipate soon having cuts in the electricity power and water supplies.

Basra’s 400,000 or so population are already battle-hardened. Iraqis are used to war and violence and no more so than those living in Basra.

US and British jets fly into Iraq from Kuwait almost every day to patrol the no-fly zones in the south and north of the country. Air raid sirens wail out every day in Basra but people just go about their daily business.

The Basra teaching hospital is already geared up to receive 100 casualties a day and have five generators in case of electricity shortages.

The city’s key location and importance has made it an area of conflict throughout history, with both the Turks and the Iranians contesting its ownership.

Founded in AD 636 by the caliph Umar I, the British first occupied Basra during the First World War and used its port; they remained there until 1930.

The city was also very heavily bombed during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s which claimed a million lives.

Significantly, although the Iranians got the upper hand, Basra never fell despite savage fighting.

The port was heavily bombed again by western coalition forces in the 1991 Gulf War, primarily to thwart covert trade and it also saw considerable violence during an uprising against Saddam after the Allies withdrew.

This treachery to Saddam’s tyrannical regime was punished brutally.

The name also appears as Bassora, Bussora, and Busra.