Zakho is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, at the centre of the eponymous Zakho District of the Dohuk Governorate, located a few kilometers from the Iraq–Turkey border.
The population of the town rose from about 30,000 in 1950 to 350,000 to 1992 due to Kurds fleeing other areas of the country.
The original settlement may have been on a small island in the Little Khabur river, which flows through the modern city. The Khabur flows west from Zakho to form the border between Iraq and Turkey, continuing into the Tigris. The most important rivers in the area are the Zeriza, Seerkotik and the aforementioned Little Khabur.