Current Time in Al Kūt, Iraq

Al Kūt lies on a great loop of the Tigris River in eastern Iraq, roughly one hundred and sixty kilometres south-east of Baghdad and not far from the foothills that mark the border with Iran. It is the capital of Wasit Governorate and sits in a flat landscape of irrigated fields, date palms and reed-fringed canals. Summers are among the hottest in the world, with temperatures regularly passing fifty degrees, while winters are short and mild.

Around four hundred thousand people live in the city, which serves as the administrative and market centre for a heavily agricultural province. Its importance rests on water and on position. The Kut Barrage, completed in 1939, spans the Tigris here and regulates the river for a vast irrigation system, feeding the Gharraf canal that carries water south towards Nasiriyah. Wheat, barley, rice and dates from the surrounding districts are traded through the city, and textile and food industries provide additional employment.

The place has been a river crossing and grain port for centuries, and it grew in importance during the Ottoman period, when steamers carried wool, grain and dates down the Tigris to Basra. Al Kūt entered world history in the First World War. In late 1915 a British and Indian force under General Charles Townshend retreated here after failing to take Baghdad and was surrounded by Ottoman troops. The siege lasted one hundred and forty-seven days, relief attempts failed at enormous cost, and the garrison surrendered in April 1916 in one of the gravest British defeats of the war. Cemeteries and memorials in and around the city recall the campaign.

The governorate takes its name from Wasit, the medieval city founded around the year 702 by the Umayyad governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, whose ruins lie south-east of Al Kūt. Wasit was built deliberately midway between Basra and Kufa, flourished for centuries as a centre of learning and ceramics, and was abandoned when the Tigris changed course. Its mounds, minaret and excavated madrasa are the principal archaeological attraction of the region, and the marshes and lakes towards the Iranian border draw birdwatchers.

Within the city, life centres on the riverfront corniche, the covered markets and the old bridge. Local culture reflects the tribal traditions of southern Iraq, with poetry recitals, reed-built guest houses for important gatherings, and large religious processions during Ashura, when many residents walk to the shrine city of Karbala. Fish grilled in the masgouf style beside the Tigris is the local speciality.

Highways link Al Kūt to Baghdad, Amarah and Basra, and a border crossing at Zurbatiyah leads to Iran, bringing pilgrim and trade traffic through the city. Wasit University, established in the early 1990s, has faculties of medicine, engineering, agriculture and education, and has become the largest institution in the province.

Al Kūt is a quietly significant Iraqi city, shaped by the Tigris, remembered for a famous siege and surrounded by the remains of a great medieval capital.