Erbil | United States Forces

New Face of Iraq

Erbil

Written by Tiraporn Olsen Friday, July 31, 2009 20:00

Erbil is in the north of Iraq. It derives its name from the city of Irbil, which is also its capital. Erbil city is believed by many to be the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world and is one of the larger cities in Iraq. The city lies 50 miles east of Mosul.

Erbil province covers an area of 5,570 square miles in the north of Iraq, with an estimated population in 2001 of 1.13 million. It is largely populated by Kurds with Assyrian, Arab and Turkoman minorities. From 1974 onwards, the province of Arbil formed part of the Kurdish Autonomous Region of northern Iraq.The region's economy is largely agricultural with some oil production and was badly affected by the conflict between Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Kurds.Since August 2004, the South Korean Zaytun Division was dispatched to the province for peace-keeping and reconstruction.

Erbil province came under Provincial Iraqi Control on May 30, 2007, as part of the Kurdish Regional Government's area of responsibility. Read Now (MNF-I News Archive)

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