Qalat Sukkar ( ar, قلعة سكر, Qal`at es Sikar, lit=Sugar Castle) is a town in the

Dhi Qar Governorate Dhi Qar Governorate ( ar, ذي قار, translit=Thi Qār, ) is a governorate in southern Iraq. The provincial capital is Nasiriyah. Prior to 1976 the governorate was known as Muntafiq Governorate. Thi Qar was the heartland of the ancient Iraqi civ ...

, Iraq, located on the Gharraf Canal.

Demographics

Qalat Sukkar has a population of 110,000. World Gazetteer, accessed 19 February 2009

Location

Qalat Sukar is located on a ridge west of the Gharraf Canal (the old canal that the Sumerians dug up some 4000 years ago). Qalat Sukar is 6 km northeast of the remains of the ancient Sumerian city of

Larsa Larsa ( Sumerian logogram: UD.UNUGKI, read ''Larsamki''), also referred to as Larancha/Laranchon (Gk. Λαραγχων) by Berossos and connected with the biblical Ellasar, was an important city-state of ancient Sumer, the center of the cult ...

."31.3333°,45.8828° – 31.2858°,45.8536° : 5.964 km / 3.707 m (great circle distance)" (distance between Qalat Sukar and Larsa Tell)
Movable Type Scripts, accessed 19 February 2009 A modern drainage canal separates Qalat Sukar from Larsa Tell. James Abbott Sauer and Khair Yassine, believe that because of the name, and the former marshlands in the area,Dougherty, Raymond P; (1926); ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research''; "An Archæological Survey in Southern Babylonia I;" No. 23; pp. 15–28 it is likely that Qalat Sukar was originally the site of a sugar mill, constructed after sugarcane was introduced into the area in the ninth century. The nearest large city is An Nasiriyah, Iraq with a population of 587,000.

Airfield

During the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

, the Qalat Sukkar Airfield was occupied by the

US Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

and called Camp Fenway."Charlie Company Leads BLT into Northern Iraq"
Kennedy, Christopher M.; (2006); "U.S. Marines in Iraq, 2003 Anthology and Annotated Bibliography;" History Division, U.S. Marine Corps; Washington, D.C.; p. 97;

Notes

External links

Falling Rain Genomics, Inc. Populated places in Dhi Qar Province {{iraq-geo-stub