Babel provincial council renames Cerf al-Naser district to Medinat al-Naser

BABYLON, Iraq — The provincial council of Babel voted in an extraordinary session on Monday evening to rename the Cerf al-Naser district as Medinat al-Naser, a Shafaq News correspondent reported. The decision was made in reference to the area's role during operations to retake it from ISIS, the council said. Cerf al-Naser is an agricultural district located about 13 kilometers north of the Musayyib district, roughly 60 kilometers southwest of Baghdad. It was previously known as Cerf al-Sahir and sits along routes connecting Baghdad to Iraq's central and southern cities, giving it strategic importance. The area has been considered a politically and security-sensitive file since 2014. Residents were displaced during the fight against ISIS, and security forces have not returned to the center of the district. The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) have continued to maintain a presence in the area. In August, the files on Cerf al-Sahir and the neighboring Cerf al-Najaf to the southeast resurfaced on the political agenda. Field operation plans for the two areas are being discussed within the framework of the federal government's timeline to centralize weapons under state control, set for September 30, 2026. The plans reportedly rely on encircling the district and restricting movement rather than direct confrontation.