Baqubah
Baqubah (; BGN: Ba‘qūbah; also spelled Baquba and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate. The city is located some to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River. In 2003 it had an estimated population of some 467,900 people. Baqubah served as a way station between Baghdad and Khorasan on the medieval Khorasan Road. During the Abbasid Caliphate, it was known for its date and fruit orchards, irrigated by the Nahrawan Canal. It is now known as the centre of Iraq's commercial orange groves. Demography and ethnography. Demographic composition of Baqubah has been a shifting phenomenon  since the independence of Iraq. Consequently, the city served as a springboard for violence against the Shias in Baghdad and others, from 2003 to 2008 (see below for chronological detail). Then in 2014, it became a seat for the ISIS terrorists, raining violence against the Shia population once again. Following these events, the Iraqi Shia militias such as the Kata'ib Hezbollah, have exacted revenge on the Sunni population of the city and the countryside around it alike by killing thousands of families and forced migration and conversions. A stream of Shia settlers are arriving (or being directed to) settle in  Baqubah and the neighborhood, in order to avoid a future repeat of the same by the Sunni majority. Both the western and eastern halves of the city straddling the Diyala River have now obtained large and grow Shia minorities, with the eastern half outpacing the other in this respect. History. Baqubah's name originates from the Aramaic words "Bet" (house) and "Yaqub" (Jacob) and means "Jacob's house". The city was used as a refugee camp for Assyrian refugees fleeing the Assyrian genocide. A refugee camp was set up outside the city, which accommodated between 40,000 and 50,000 refugees. Medieval  history. Baqubah was probably founded during the Sasanian period. At the time of the Abbasid caliphate, Baqubah lay on the Nahrawan canal, at the end of the canal's Great Qātūl stage and the beginning of its Tāmarrā stage. Although the main road heading east to Khorasan from Baghdad bypassed Baqubah during this period, passing instead through the city of Jisr Nahrawan, it was Baqubah and not Jisr Nahrawan that was the capital of the Upper Nahrawan district. However, the succeeding Seljuk sultans neglected to dredge the Nahrawan canal or otherwise maintain it, and by the time of Yaqut al -Hamawi in the early 1200s, the canal had completely silted up and the lands it had once watered had gone out of cultivation. By the 14th century, Hamdallah Mustawfi wrote that Jisr Nahrawan was in ruins, and the road to Khorasan now passed through Baqubah instead. Baqubah was the main town in the "Tarīq-i-Khurāsān" district, and it was surrounded by fertile orchards that produced large crops of oranges and pomelos. In Yaqut's time, Baqubah was a flourishing town, with several public baths and mosques, as well as a market. The land around Baqubah was densely covered in  irrigated orchards, whose dates and lemons were proverbial for their excellence. Modern history. In the early 1800s, Baqubah was surrounded by date palm groves, as well as orchards producing lemons, pomegranates, and other fruits. In 1820, Baqubah is described as being home to 2,000 people, of whom almost half were Shi'ite. It had a bazaar and two small mosques. In the early 1820s, though, the Kurdish army of Mohammad Ali Mirza, governor of Kermanshah, occupied Baqubah and destroyed much of it. A decade later, it was still in ruins. By 1845, the bazaar and one of the mosques were functioning  again, and local agriculture was flourishing. By the early 1870s, the Ottoman civil administration had managed to restore stability to the region, and Baqubah became increasingly prosperous. Around the turn of the century, one European traveler described its connections to emerging networks of world commerce: Recent history. During the course of the US-led occupation of Iraq, Baquba emerged as the scene of some of the heaviest guerrilla activity, along with the Sunni enclaves of Fallujah and Ramadi. It was the site of the heaviest fighting during the June 24, 2004, insurgent offensive. Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, led by Abu  Musab al-Zarqawi, took responsibility for the attacks. In a setback for insurgents, Iraqi and U.S. officials confirmed on June 8, 2006, that Zarqawi had been killed in an airstrike and subsequent raid north of Baquba. During late 2006, however, Baqubah and much of Diyala Governorate were reported to have come under Sunni insurgent control. On January 3, 2007 the previous Iraqi government in Baquba was reported to have fallen, leaving the city in the hands of insurgents fighting against the American led coalition in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In January 2007, it was reported that Sunni insurgents were able to  kidnap the mayor and blow up his office, despite promises from American and Iraqi military officials that the situation in the city was "reassuring and under control". The city at its peak had over 460,000 residents, but a February 2007 report labeled the city a "ghost town" as residents either fled criminal and sectarian violence or remained in hiding at home. On August 10, 2015 a suicide car bombing near Baqubah killed 30 and wounded 40 people. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. Attacks during Iraq War. The following is a list of deadly attacks in the city including the  death of al-Zarqawi and after. June 24, 2004, Capt. Christopher Cash and Spec.4 Daniel Desens Jr, of A Co 1-120th INF BN, North Carolina National Guard, were killed in action during attacks by a large well-coordinated insurgent force attempting to take key points around the city. Operation Arrowhead Ripper. On June 19, 2007, U.S. forces launched a large-scale operation against Iraqi militants in Baquba. The offensive, Operation Arrowhead Ripper, involved approximately 10,000 coalition soldiers. Lingering legacy of Baath Party and Saddam Hussein. Along with the city of Fallujah, Baqubah has kept the names of monuments and  mosques named after some of the most controversial officers and campaigns of the Baath Party. For example, still today, a large mosque named after Adnan Khairallah is found in the city. There is also an Izzat Ibrahim mosque in Baqubah (and another one in its satellite town of Buhriz), named likewise after a high officer of Saddam Hussein. Furthermore, Baqubah also hosts a mosque named the Anfal mosque, which echoes the name of the Anfal Campaign, which involved the mass killing of the Kurds under the supervision of Adnan Khairallah. These, like other Baath Party-related names, are controversial among  Iraqi Shia and Kurds who lost so many lives to the abuses of the Baath Party, Saddam Hussein and military/security figures like Adnan Khairallah and Izzat Ibrahim. Climate. Baqubah has a hot desert climate ("BWh") in the Köppen–Geiger climate classification system. In winter there is more rainfall than in summer. The average annual temperature in Baqubah is . About of precipitation falls annually. Transport. Baqubah is connected by highway to Baghdad and Mandali.