Vestige of war, a wall still strangles a city in Iraq

Erected more than a decade ago, at the height of the civil war which tore apart multi-confessional and multi-ethnic Iraq, the wall is intended to guarantee the security of the city, which notably houses the Shiite mausoleum of the two imams Ali al -Hadi and his son Hassan al-Askari.

In the predominantly Sunni province of Salaheddine, the mausoleum was targeted in 2006 by an attack, causing an outbreak of sectarian violence, which left tens of thousands dead in the country. In 2007, a second attack destroyed the two minarets of this architectural jewel.

If Iraq has regained a semblance of stability, the Samarra wall bears witness to one of the bloodiest pages in Iraqi history. Even if, according to the authorities, it still serves today to prevent a persistent jihadist danger.

But the wall strangles daily life in a city where, since 2008, the population has jumped from 300.000 to 400.000 inhabitants.

“It’s a nightmare, worse than a prison,” asserts Mr. Ibrahim, a 52-year-old daily worker.

The fifty-year-old rents accommodation in town for a rent of around $180 - a small fortune for him and his two sons who are day laborers.

For the moment, its land is not buildable: it directly adjoins the surrounding wall.

“The security forces do not allow us to approach the wall,” he laments. “And then there are no services, no water, no electricity. Building beyond the wall is like living in exile.”

“Terrorist attacks”

Despite the political instability sporadically shaking Iraq, the walls are falling in Baghdad and the authorities are removing the T-walls, high concrete blocks commonly used to block certain streets and protect public buildings and embassies.

In Samarra, 110 km north of the capital, the T-walls of the surrounding wall are still there. On the town side, small unfinished concrete block houses. On the other side of the wall, empty lots as far as the eye can see.

For the moment, only three entrances, tightly controlled by security barriers, provide access to Samarra, once the capital of the Abassid empire in the 9th century and which houses treasures classified as UNESCO heritage.

Aware of the complications, the local authorities intend to widen the perimeter of the surrounding wall by several kilometers - between three and seven - and modernize it: it will be equipped with six entrances, watchtowers and surveillance cameras.

“We would have liked to remove it, but there are obligations and security plans which dictated its maintenance,” the deputy governor of Salaheddine, Riyad al-Tayyas, told AFP, assuring that the expansion work should start “within a month”.

The enclosure, he recalls, was erected after the 2006 attack on the mausoleum "to protect the city and its inhabitants from terrorist attacks carried out at the time by Al-Qaeda."

Its maintenance is important to "not repeat the catastrophe of 2006, which led to a sectarian war", he warns.

“Real estate is on fire”

The official admits, however, that the wall "strangles" entrances and exits and hinders "urban expansion".

Building outside the wall “is not prohibited,” he says. But the residents abstain, “fearing that the enclosure will not be maintained and that they will find themselves cut off from the rest of the city”.

Not to mention the jihadist threat. “Even though the security situation has improved, there are still sleeper cells of the Islamic State (IS) group,” warns Mr. Tayyas.

Published in the summer of 2023, a UN report recognized that ISIS had “maintained a presence in its strongholds around Salaheddine, north of Baghdad (Tarmiyé), in Diyala and in Kirkuk” – while noting a drop in the “frequency of attacks in urban centers”.

“In Samarra, inside the city, the security situation is excellent,” says Laith Ibrahim, a 64-year-old retiree. “Outside, no, it’s exposed,” he adds.

He also speaks out in favor of widening the perimeter of the wall. “There is a shortage of land, housing, real estate is soaring day after day.”