Basra province, or Al Basrah province, is a province of Iraq, with an area of . One reported estimate of its 2003 population is 1,761,000[1]. Its capital is Basra City, perhaps Iraq's fourth or fifth largest[1] city; other major cities include Corna (Eden), Az Zubayr, Umm Qasr and Abu Al Khaseeb. The province has international borders with Kuwait to the south and Iran to the east.
A proposal to join Basra with the neighbouring governorates of Dhi Qar and Maysan to form a southeastern state in an eventual Iraqi federation is currently under discussion. A new law, passed by the Iraqi Parliament in 2006, allows for the merger of two or more provinces as of April 2008.
On the 9th of December 2007, it was announced by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that control of the Basra Governorate would be handed over from Coalition forces to local Iraqi control.[2] The province was formally transferred a week later, on the 16th of December 2007, making it the 9th such province to be transferred to full Iraqi control.[3]
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