Balad Ruz is a city located some 120 km (75 mi) northeast of Baghdad in the Diyala Governorate of Iraq. Balad Ruz has a radio station that was opened on December 18, 2006, known as Al Noor Radio Station, meaning "The Light" in Arabic. The current commander of all Iraqi Army ground forces Lt. General Ali Ghaidan Majid is from Balad Ruz.

History

Balad Ruz was historically known as Barāz al-Rūz, a name meaning "the rice field". Although its origin is unclear, the city has been continuously inhabited from at least Abbasid times to the present day. The Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tadid built a palace here. In 1340, Hamdallah Mustawfi noted that it paid 20,000 dinars annually to the treasury in Baghdad. Balad Ruz continued to prosper through the late 1700s, when it was described by an observer as a large town under the control of Baghdad. When Felix Jones surveyed the area in the mid-1800s, he noted that the Rūz canal, on which the city lay, ended in the immediate vicinity of Balad Ruz; historically, it had extended over 50 kilometers (31 mi) further south.

Military and security related events in Balad Ruz - Iraq war 2003-11