Nineveh Governorate

Recent history and administration

Its two cities endured the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and emerged unscathed. In 2004, however, Mosul and Tal Afar were the scenes of fierce battles between US-led troops and Iraqi insurgents. The insurgents moved to Nineveh after the Battle of Fallujah in 2004.

After the invasion, the military of the province was led by (then Major General) David Petraeus of the 101st Airborne Division and later by (then Brigadier General) Carter Ham as the multi-national brigade for Iraq. During the time, the American civil head of the local office of the Coalition Provisional Authority was US Foreign Service Officer and former Kurdish refugee to the States, Herro Mustafa. Mustafa administered her nominees on the provincial council and through members of the Kashmoula family.

In June 2004, Osama Kashmoula became the interim governor of the province and in September of the same year he was assassinated en route to Baghdad. He was succeeded as interim Governor by Duraid Kashmoula, who was elected governor in January 2005. Duraid Kashmoula resigned in 2009. In April 2009, Atheel al-Nujaifi, a hardline Arab nationalist and member of Al-Hadba, became governor. While al-Nujaifi's Arab Muttahidoon bloc lost its majority to the Kurdish Brotherhood and Coexistence Alliance List in the 2013 provincial election, al-Nujaifi was reelected as governor by a larger Sunni Arab coalition that was later formalized as the Nahda Bloc.

In June 2014, insurgents from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (known as ISIS or ISIL) overran the capital Mosul, forcing an estimated 500,000 refugees to flee the area, including governor al-Nujaifi, who was subsequently deposed by the Iraqi Parliament.

While the Kurdish list proposed Hassan al-Allaf, an Arab affiliated with the Islamic Party, the provincial council elected Nofal Hammadi (formerly Loyalty to Nineveh List) with the votes of the Nahdha bloc.

An offensive to retake Mosul from ISIL control began in October 2016, with Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers supported by a U.S.-led coalition of 60 nations.

Provincial elections

Main article: 2013 Nineveh governorate election

Geography

Borders

The province borders the governorates of Dohuk, Kirkuk, Erbil, Saladin, and Anbar. It also shares a border with Syria, mostly Al-Hasakah Governorate, and Deir ez-Zor Governorate.

Districts

Nineveh Governorate comprises nine districts (excluding Aqrah), listed below with their areas and populations as estimated in 2018:

File:The Eastern Bank of Tigris River.jpg|Mosul File:Views around the old downtown area in April of 2019 in the city center of Shingal 19.jpg|Tel Afar File:Saint Matthew Monastery (Der Mar Matti), overlooking Bashiqa and Bartella, between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq 15.jpg|Hamdaniyah File:مقبرة تل كيف في العراق محافظة نينوى قضاء تلكيف (7).jpg|Tel Keppe File:Crazy Troop Visit Ancient Ruins of Hatra 6.jpg|Hatra File:View of Shexan from the Yezidi cemetery 2.jpg|Shekhan

Demographics

|graph-pos = bottom |graph-width = |graph-height = |1977 |1,105,700 |1987 |1,479,430 |1997 |2,042,852 |2009 |3,106,948 |2018 |3,729,998

Nineveh Province is multiethnic, with Arabs constituting the majority, while Assyrians, Turkmens, Kurds, and Yazidis who live in both in towns and cities, and in their own specific villages and regions, constitute the minority. There are also many Armenians, Kawliya, Mandeans, and Shabaks.

The majority are Sunni Muslim, with 80% of the Arabs and Turkmens being Sunni Muslim, as well Kurds also being Sunni Muslim. About 5–10% of the population is Shia Muslim. Generally, Yazidis, Shabaks and Mandeans are followers of their respective heritage religions, Yazidism, Shabakism, and Mandaeism.

The primary spoken language is Arabic. Minority languages include Turkmen, Neo-Aramaic dialects, Kurdish (predominantly Kurmanji) and Armenian.

Proposed Assyrian autonomous region

Main article: Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq

Many Assyrian leaders advocate an autonomous Assyrian homeland within the Nineveh Province (mostly in the Nineveh Plains region) for the Assyrian population.

Notes

References

References

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16. (21 June 2015). "Member of Nineveh's Council: Two Candidates for the Post of the Governor And Negotiations To Select One of Them".
17. (5 October 2015). "Nofal Hammadi of al-Nahetha bloc elected as Governor of Nineveh succeeding al-Nujaifi". Shafaq.
18. (20 October 2016). "How ISIS Is Spinning the Mosul Battle". The Atlantic.
19. COSIT (Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology), Baghdad.
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