Shafaq News- Karbala
Iraqi authorities and Karbala’s holy shrines haveactivated extensive security, health, and public service plans as millions ofpilgrims arrived on Thursday night to mark the eve of Ashura, one of thecountry’s largest annual Shiite commemorations.
Ashura, observed on the tenth day of Muharram, marksthe killing of Imam Hussein bin Ali, the third Shia Imam and grandson of theProphet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE. For Shia Muslims, theoccasion symbolizes sacrifice, dignity, and resistance to injustice.
Black banners lined the city's streets as Husseinimawakib, volunteer-run processions providing food, water, rest areas, andmourning services, received visitors arriving from across Iraq and abroad,while many residents opened their homes, continuing a long-standing traditionof hospitality.
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Speaking to Shafaq News, Karbala Provincial Councilmember Israa Al-Nasrawi said preparations had been underway for more than amonth, with government agencies deploying medical teams along the main routesfrom Najaf, Baghdad, and Babil, as well as across the city. She expectedattendance to exceed last year’s estimated 12 million visitors.
The Imam Hussein and Al-Abbas Holy Shrines alsounveiled coordinated operational plans for the Tuwairij Run, one of Ashura'slargest mourning rituals, deploying 10,000 personnel, including 2,000 staffmembers and 8,000 volunteers, expanding surveillance with more than 4,400cameras, organizing 831 mourning and service processions, and preparing threedesignated routes to manage crowd movement.
The arrangements also include covering the centralcourtyard between the two shrines with 10,000 square meters of red carpeting,distributing around 50,000 meals daily, and installing hundreds of misting fansto help visitors cope with the summer heat.
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Media coverage has also expanded. Hussein Al-Shammari,head of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate's Karbala branch, told Shafaq News that419 accreditations had been issued to journalists representing 23 televisionchannels, 20 news agencies, and 30 foreign correspondents.
Authorities further mobilized 120 firefighting andrescue teams, 1,350 civil defense personnel, 100 ambulances, 13 hospitals andemergency medical centers, more than 3,200 sanitation workers, 419 specializedvehicles, over 300 sewage trucks, 57 pumping stations, and nine wastewatertreatment projects to support the commemoration.
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