Latifiya

Latifiya (Arabic: اللطيفية), named after Latifiya river, is an Iraqi town south of Baghdad, between Mahmoudiyah and Iskandariya, inhabited originally by 97,043 people.^[1] It has a mix of Sunni and Shia Muslim population, and surrounded by in the west and the east by rural areas dominated by Sunni Arabs, while its countryside and towns to the north and south are Shia in their majority.

Latifiya اللطيفية
Latifiya
Coordinates: 32°58′55″N 44°21′33″E
Country	Iraq
Governorate	Baghdad Governorate
Municipality	Mahmudiya District

During the period between 2003 and 2007, Latifiya was one of the most dangerous places for the Coalition Forces. The insurgent groups operated almost freely in Latifiya and the neighboring Sunni dominated Al-Yusufiyah. One known case was the ambush to agents of the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia from Spain in November 2003.^[2] Nearly all of the Shia citizens were ethnically cleansed, being chased off to Mahmoudiyah, Nasiriya and Iskandariya nearby. They returned after the defeat of the Sunni insurgents by the Shi'ite Mahdi army by 2006.^[3] In 2014–15, the ISIS jihadists once again expelled the Shia population. With their defeat in 2017, once again the Shia returned, but this time it was the turn for the Sunni population to be harassed and deported.

It is home to the 1/4/6 Iraqi Army Battalion and US Patrol Base Latifiya (FOB ROW).

References

1. "محافظة بغداد/ نسبة المخدومين لشبكة المياه لعام ٢٠١٤". mmpw.gov.iq. Archived from the original on 2016-07-08. Retrieved 2017-05-28.
2. Cernuda, Pilar (24 April 2019). No sabes nada de mí: Quiénes son las espías españolas (in Spanish). La Esfera de los Libros. p. 83-84. ISBN 9788491645856.
3. جيش اﻻمام المهدي في اللطيفية في سنة 2006, retrieved 2023-02-18