Village to port

Umm Qasr was originally a small fishing town, but was used as a military port on several occasions before advancing trades and jobs by building a deep-water port on the coast. It was said to have been the site of Alexander the Great's landing in Mesopotamia in 325 BC. During the Second World War a temporary port was established there by the Allies to unload supplies to dispatch to the Soviet Union. It fell back into obscurity after the war, but the government of King Faisal II sought to establish a permanent port there in the 1950s.^[3]

After the Iraqi Revolution of 1958, a naval base was established at Umm Qasr. The port was subsequently founded in 1961 by the Iraqi ruler General Abdul-Karim Qassem. It was intended to serve as Iraq's only "deep water" port, reducing the country's dependence on the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway that marks the border with Iran. The port facilities were built by a consortium of companies from West Germany, Sweden and Lebanon, with a railway line connecting it to Basra and Baghdad.^[4] The port opened for business in July 1967.^[5]

Iran–Iraq War

During the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) its importance increased as fighting restricted access to other ports further east. Umm Qasr was threatened after the Iranian invasion and occupation of the al-Faw Peninsula in 1986 but the port never fell.

Gulf War

Access to the port was part of the territorial dispute with Kuwait which led to the 1990 Persian Gulf War. Both countries contested ownership of the inlet leading to Umm Qasr as well as control of the nearby Kuwaiti islands of Bubiyan and Warbah.^[6] After the war, during which the port was bombed, control of the inlet was transferred to Kuwait and a large trench and sand berm was constructed along the border. The Iraqi government rejected the border changes and continued to claim Kuwaiti territory near the port.^[7] The Iraqi government shifted much commerce to Umm Qasr from Basra to punish the Basrawis economically for their support of the post-war rebellions against Saddam Hussein.

U.S.-led invasion

Umm Qasr was the target of one of the first major military operations in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, on March 21, 2003. The assault on the port was spearheaded by British Royal Marines, US Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Polish GROM troops, but Iraqi forces put up unexpectedly strong resistance, requiring several days' fighting before the area was cleared of defenders.^[8] After the waterway was de-mined by Australian Clearance Diving Team Three, Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron FOURTEEN Detachment ONE and Naval Special Clearance Team ONE of the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy Fleet Diving Unit 3 and reopened, Umm Qasr played an important role in the shipment of humanitarian supplies to Iraqi civilians.^[9]

During a debate in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in late March 2003, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon somewhat inadvisedly compared Umm Qasr to the southern English city of Southampton. The analogy was met with scepticism among the troops. A British soldier was widely quoted as retorting, "There's no beer, no prostitutes and people are shooting at us. It's more like Portsmouth".^[10] In January 2006, the 100th British soldier died in Iraq. Corporal Gordon Pritchard, was killed in a bomb explosion in the town.^[11] An American Air Force enlistee, Derek Mohamed Adas, described his war-time experience at Camp Bucca and the poverty of the surrounding area in his interview with the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project in 2013.^[12]

Climate

In Umm Qasr, there is a desert climate. In winter there is more rainfall than in summer. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is BWh. The average annual temperature in Umm Qasr is 25.0 °C (77.0 °F). About 133 mm (5.24 in) of precipitation falls annually.

Town

Population estimates are around 46,000 people living in Umm Qasr town at the outbreak of the 2003 war. Having grown from a tiny fishing village in 1958, the town is laid out in planned housing tracts, with workers living near the previously state-owned industries which employed them. Almost the entire population were relocated from other parts of Iraq to work in state-run industries. The port (and its workforce) were dramatically expanded following the first Gulf War, in part to remove vital functions from Basra, scene of a major anti-government uprising. A mapping project shortly thereafter stated "In total, the town is composed of 82 streets; each street has 72 houses. Up to three to four families live in each house." It then described three main neighborhoods:^[13]

• North Indian Camp (Hindi Court) in the north, with 6,600 people and 37 streets
• South Indian Camp to the west of town, mostly to house port workers.
• Port/Customs Office with housing and offices for the Iraqi Ministry of Industry; housing for workers in the pipe, steel, and cement factories.

Buildings and structures

At Umm Qasr, there is a 492-metre-tall (1614 ft) broadcasting mast at 30°3′34.37″N 47°53′14.52″E / 30.0595472°N 47.8873667°E / 30.0595472; 47.8873667.