Balad Ruz (Arabic: بلدروز) 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 18 December 2006, known as Al Noor Radio Station, meaning "The Light" in Arabic.
The current[when?] commander of all Iraqi Army ground forces Lt. General Ali Ghaidan Majid is from Balad Ruz.[citation needed]
Balad Ruz was historically known as Barāz al-Rūz,[3][4] a name meaning "the rice field".[4] Although its origin is unclear, the city has been continuously inhabited from at least Abbasid times to the present day.[3] The Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tadid built a palace here.[3] In 1340, Hamdallah Mustawfi noted that it paid 20,000 dinars annually to the treasury in Baghdad.[3] 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.[3] 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.[3]
33°42′N 45°05′E / 33.700°N 45.083°E
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