General description of the governorate

Basic geography

The governorate is divided into nine districts: al-Dour, al-Shirqat, Balad, Baiji, Fares, Samarra, Thethar, Tuz, and Tikrit.¹¹⁴⁵ Tikrit city, the governorate’s capital, and its surrounding areas, had an estimated pre-ISIL population of 200 000 inhabitants.¹¹⁴⁶ It was also Saddam Hussein’s place of birth and has been viewed as an important power centre of the Sunni Arabs.¹¹⁴⁷ The only district of the governorate to come under the ‘Disputed Internal Boundaries’ as per Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution was Tuz (Khurmatu).¹¹⁴⁸

1144 UN JAU, Iraq District Map, January 2014, url

1145 UNOCHA, Iraq: Salah Al-Din Governorate profile and monthly humanitarian response (January - December 2019), 5 February 2020, url.

1146 Gaston, E. and Derzsi-Horvath, A., Iraq after ISIL: Iraq After ISIL, Sub-State Actors, Local Forces, and the Micro-Politics of Control, GPPi, March 2018, url, p. 45

1147 Gaston, E. and Derzsi-Horvath, A., Iraq after ISIL: Iraq After ISIL, Sub-State Actors, Local Forces, and the Micro-Politics of Control, GPPi, March 2018, url, p. 45

1148 PAX, Human Security Survey Salahaddin, Iraq - 2019, Summary of Key Findings, 2019, url, p. 1

Population

For 2019, the Iraqi CSO (Central Statistical Organization) estimated¹¹⁴⁹ the governorate’s population at 1 637 232.¹¹⁵⁰ The majority of Salah al-Din governorate’s population was reported to be residing in rural areas.¹¹⁵¹

Ethnicity

Salah al-Din governorate is predominantly inhabited by Sunni Arabs, but also hosts a Shia Arab minority, as well as Turkmen and Kurdish minority groups.¹¹⁵² The population in Tuz district is particularly multi-ethnic and is reported to be ‘split almost evenly among Sunni Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen (Shi’a and Sunni).’¹¹⁵³ The governorate was also home to the Shiite al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, which was the target of an attack by Al-Qaeda in 2006 and prompted widespread sectarian violence.¹¹⁵⁴

Salah al-Din governorate is home to several Iraqi tribal confederations.¹¹⁵⁵ The confederation, which is based in and around Tikrit ‘unites a number of prominent tribes, perhaps the most notable being the Albu Nasir, which is the tribe of the former dictator Saddam Hussein and many of his closest associates.’¹¹⁵⁶ According to a 2003 report the governorate also hosted other prominent tribes, such as the Jubur (al-Shirqat), Obeid (al-Alam), al-‘Azza (Balad), Luhayb (al-Shirqat) and Harb (al-Dour).¹¹⁵⁷ Road security

Tuz is a ‘northern transportation hub’ on the Baghdad-Kirkuk highway.¹¹⁵⁸ Attacks staged by insurgent groups, including ISIL, continue to be reported on roads in Salah al-Din governorate throughout 2019 and 2020.¹¹⁵⁹ Checkpoints in the governorate were also reported to be targeted during the same period.¹¹⁶⁰ iMMAP assessed that between January and December 2019 there were large stretches of

‘primary risk’ and ‘secondary risk’ roads in Salah al-Din.¹¹⁶¹ According to iMMAP in June 2020, risks of

1149 It should be noted that the last comprehensive Population and Housing Census for Iraq was conducted in 1987; UNFPA, Newsletter 2020 Census, December 2019, url, p. 1

1150 Iraq, CSO, 2019 ةنسل سنجلاو ةئيبلاو ةظفاحملا بسح قارعلا ناكس تاريدق [Demographic and population indicators, Estimates for the population of Iraq by province, environment and gender for the year 2019] (table), n.d., url

1151 PAX, Human Security Survey Salahaddin, Iraq - 2019, Summary of Key Findings, 2019, url, p. 1

1152 IOM, Kirkuk, Ninewa & Salah al-Din, governorate profile, June 2008, url, p. 3

1153 Gaston, E. and Derzsi-Horvath, A., Iraq after ISIL: Iraq After ISIL, Sub-State Actors, Local Forces, and the Micro-Politics of Control, GPPi, March 2018, url, p. 52. See also, ICG, Reviving UN Mediation on Iraq’s Disputed Internal Boundaries - Middle East Report N°194, 14 December 2018, url, pp. 15-16

1154 Time, How the Fate of One Holy Site Could Plunge Iraq Back into Civil War, 26 June 2014, url; The New York Times, Blast destroys shrine in Iraq, setting off sectarian fury, 22 February 2006, url

1155 Haddad, F., Comment made during the review of the 2019 EASO report, 18 January 2019, in: EASO, COI Report: Iraq - Security situation, March 2019, url

1156 Gospodinov, I., Leiden University, The Sunni Tribes of Iraq: Tribal consolidation, through turbulent years 2003-2009, 2015, url, p. 18

1157 Baram, A., The Iraqi Tribes and the Post-Sadam Tribal System, Brookings Institution, 8 July 2003, url

1158 ICG, Reviving UN Mediation on Iraq’s Disputed Internal Boundaries - Middle East Report N°194, 14 December 2018, url, p. 15

1159 For examples of roadside bombs, IEDs and other attacks on roads in Salah al-Din governorate, see: The Baghdad Post, 3 truck drivers killed and a fourth wounded by gunmen in Salah al-Din, 17 December 2019, url; Bas News, IS Temporarily Seizes Control of Kirkuk-Baghdad Road, 15 September 2019, url; Talos, IED attack against Baiji Police Chief on Highway 1 in Salah al-Din Province, 2 May 2019, url; Iraqi News, Back-to-back blasts kill 3, wound 11 in Iraq’s Salahuddin, 27 January 2019, url; The National, ISIS attacks resurgent on Iraq’s ‘Highway of Death’, 7 July 2018, url

1160 Bas News, IS Attacks Checkpoint, Kills and Wounds Six Iraqi Policemen, 31 May 2020, url; VOA, Islamic State Attack Kills 2 Security Forces Near Northern Iraqi Oil Fields, 21 October 2019, url

1161 iMMAP, Humanitarian Access Response: Explosive Hazards Risk Level on Roads in Salah Al-Din Governorate from January to December 2019, 12 January 2020 url

explosive hazards on roads in Salah al-Din governorate were reported on the highway linking the cities Baghdad and Baiji, as well as on the road linking the towns Tikrit and Tuz Khurmatu.¹¹⁶²

Economy

Salah al-Din governorate hosts Alas and Ajil oilfields in Tikrit district and Baiji refinery in Baiji district.

Baiji refinery was considered integral to the Iraqi economy as the country’s largest oil refinery along with its auxiliary industries, such as a fertilizer factory and a power plant.¹¹⁶³ Baiji refinery was the scene of considerable levels of conflict and violence after ISIL took over control in June 2014.¹¹⁶⁴ According to a 2017 report by GPPi, significant parts of Baiji district were under PMU control, including the refinery, although prolonged clashes between ISIL and pro-government forces as well as looting by the PMUs have left the refinery and the wider district ‘decimated’ and only minimal returns have taken place to the district.¹¹⁶⁵ On 30 July 2020, anti-explosives control department were able to dismantle an anti-tank mine on the road adjacent to the oil pipeline in Baiji district in Salah al-Din governorate. The mine was suspected to have been planted by ISIL militants in an effort to target the

‘oil wealth’, according to local Iraqi news reports.¹¹⁶⁶

Alas oilfield was used by ISIL as a major source of revenue between 2014 and 2017.¹¹⁶⁷ In 2019, the oilfield was reported to have been the continued target of ISIL attacks.¹¹⁶⁸ For example, in March 2019, ISIL fighters attacked police forces at the oilfield during which the group sustained an unknown number of casualties, according to a media report.¹¹⁶⁹ In May and July 2019, ISF repelled three separate attacks by ISIL on security forces stationed at the Alas oilfield.¹¹⁷⁰ In October 2019, ISIL fighters staged an attack on security forces at a checkpoint near the oilfield, in an attempt to destabilise security efforts by targeting a ‘symbolic or economically vital target’, according to an analyst of the ISW.¹¹⁷¹ Two members of the security forces were killed, while three were wounded.¹¹⁷² Iraqi authorities repaired Ajil oilfield in October 2018, after it had been set on fire by ISIL in 2015, according to media reports.¹¹⁷³ The oilfield was reported to have resumed oil production since then.¹¹⁷⁴

1162 iMMAP, Humanitarian Access Response: Explosive Hazards Risk Level on Roads in Salah Al-Din Governorate 01-30 June 2020, 5 July 2020, url. For an overview of explosive hazards risk level on roads in Salah Al-Din Governorate since 2019, see iMMAP’s monthly updated maps.

1163 Derzsi-Horváth, A. et al., Iraq after ISIL: Baiji, 13 September 2017, GPPi, url

1164 Derzsi-Horváth, A. et al., Iraq after ISIL: Baiji, 13 September 2017, GPPi, url. See also, Iraq Oil Report, Once fixable, Baiji refinery plundered beyond repair, 28 January 2016, url

1165 Derzsi-Horváth, A. et al., Iraq after ISIL: Baiji, 13 September 2017, GPPi, url. See also, World Bank Group, Iraq

Reconstruction and Investment – Part 2 Damage and Needs Assessment of Affected Governorates, January 2018, url, p. 76-77

1166 NINA, Anti- Explosives Force Defuses A Mine Planted To Target An Oil Pipeline In Salah al-Din, 30 July 2020, url

1167 Business Insider, ISIS is staging attacks in symbolically important places to send a message: We’re back, 24 October 2019, url

1168 Business Insider, ISIS is staging attacks in symbolically important places to send a message: We’re back, 24 October 2019, url

1169 ANF News, ISIS attacked Alas oil field near Kirkuk, 25 March 2019, url

1170 Kurdistan 24, Iraqi forces repel third ISIS attack in 2019 on oilfields in Salahuddin, 29 July 2019, url

1171 Business Insider, ISIS is staging attacks in symbolically important places to send a message: We’re back, 24 October 2019, url

1172 Reuters, ISIS attack kills two security forces near northern Iraqi oilfields, 22 October 2019, url

1173 Reuters, Iraq repairs Ajil oilfield torched by Islamic State: minister, 9 October 2018, url; Xinhua Net, Iraq rehabilitates Ajil oilfield destroyed by IS militants, 9 October 2018, url

1174 Reuters, Iraq repairs Ajil oilfield torched by Islamic State: minister, 9 October 2018, url; Xinhua Net, Iraq rehabilitates Ajil oilfield destroyed by IS militants, 9 October 2018, url