The eastern side of the city including 'Qushla' has a more modern feel and contains a number of estates of apartment blocks built during the 1970s and 1980s, As Samawah Stadium, which is home to the local Muthanna football team Samawa FC, as well as technical colleges and the polytechnic.
Boots on the Ground... is an account of the war in Iraq with the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne as it convoys north from Kuwait to Iraq's Tallil Air Base en route to night-and-day battles within the major city of Samawah and its bridges across the Euphrates.
On 13 January, more than 100 American, British and French aircraft attacked Iraqi missile sites near Nasiriyah, Samawah, Najaf and Al-Amarah.