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The 1983–1986 Kurdish rebellions in Iraq occurred during the
Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...
as PUK and KDP
Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...
militias of
Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan () refers to the Kurds, Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdist ...
rebelled against
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
as part of the
Iraqi–Kurdish conflict The Iraqi–Kurdish conflict consists of a series of wars, rebellions and disputes between the Kurds and the central authority of Iraq starting in the 20th century shortly after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Some put the marki ...
, in an attempt to form an independent state. With Iraqi government forces occupied by the Iran-Iraq War, Kurdish
Peshmerga The Peshmerga () are the internal security forces of Kurdistan Region. According to the Constitution of Iraq, regional governments are responsible for "the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the region such as p ...
(combining the forces of the KDP and PUK) succeeded in taking control of some enclaves, with Iranian logistic and sometimes military support. The initial rebellion resulted in stalemate by 1985. The most violent phase of the conflict between the Kurds and Iraqi
Ba'athist Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology ...
regime was the
Al-Anfal Campaign The Anfal campaign was a counterinsurgency operation which was carried out by Ba'athist Iraq from February to September 1988 during the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict at the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The campaign targeted rural Kurds because its pu ...
of the
Iraqi Army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), also referred to as the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was formerly known as the Royal Iraq ...
against the Kurdish minority, which took place between 1986–1988 and included the
Halabja chemical attack The Halabja massacre ( ) took place in Iraqi Kurdistan on 16 March 1988, when thousands of Kurds were killed by a large-scale Iraqi chemical weapons program, Iraqi chemical attack. A targeted attack in Halabja, it was carried out during the Anfa ...
. The Al-Anfal campaign ended in 1988 with an agreement of amnesty between the two belligerents. No permanent gains were made by the Kurds.


Background


The Kurdish people of Iraq

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan () refers to the Kurds, Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdist ...
is located in northern
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
, along its borders with
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
,
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, and
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. It is a mostly mountainous and fertile region. Towards the north, along the Iranian border, is the periphery of the Iranian
Zagros Mountains The Zagros Mountains are a mountain range in Iran, northern Iraq, and southeastern Turkey. The mountain range has a total length of . The Zagros range begins in northwestern Iran and roughly follows Iran's western border while covering much of s ...
. The Kurds have lived in this region for thousands of years, but never as part of a Kurdish ethno-state. Instead, different empires and modern states have controlled this region. The Kurds identify themselves as Kurdish through the language they speak, their customs, religion (mainly
Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...
, but with
Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...
,
Alevi Alevism (; ; ) is a syncretic heterodox Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Islamic teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, who taught the teachings of the Twelve Imams, whilst incorporating some traditions from shamanism. Differing ...
and
Yazidi Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis (; ), are a Kurdish-speaking endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The majority of Yazidis remaining in ...
minorities), tolerance of other religions, and their tribal affiliation. Tribes are determined through kinship and territorial location. For Kurds, identification with the tribe is more important and significant than the official country the tribe is located in. Since the 1920s, the Kurds have harbored grievances against the various Iraqi governments due to a lack of representation in state institutions.


Kurdistan Democratic Party

The
Kurdistan Democratic Party The Kurdistan Democratic Party (), usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the ruling Political party, party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional Government. It was founded in 1946 in Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan. ...
, KDP, is the longest standing and preeminent political party of the Kurdish people. It was created in 1946 under Mulla Mustafa Barzani with initial goals based on Kurdish nationalist aspirations and the desire for self-government. Over time, Barzani and his supporters evolved the mission of the KDP into a fight for "the full rights of the Kurds for
self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...
... achieved through peaceful means in a democratic, pluralist, and federal Iraq." Barzani was the first person to assemble almost universal Kurdish nationalism among the people and from the mid-1930s through to his expulsion from Iraq in the 1970s he was synonymous with the Kurdish quest for independence. Barzani led rebellions intermittently against the governments of Iraq (
First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
and Second Iraqi–Kurdish Wars), Iran, and Turkey, in hopes of gaining larger revolutionary forces each time.


Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

The
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK; ) is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the Disputed territories of Northern Iraq, disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK describes its goals as self-determination, human rights, democracy a ...
, PUK, was established in 1975 under
Jalal Talabani Jalal Talabani (; ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2005 to 2014, as well as the president of the Governing Council of Iraq. Talabani was the founder and secretary-gene ...
. Talabani had worked as a Kurdish revolutionary in the
KDP KDP may refer to: Businesses *Kindle Direct Publishing, an e-publisher that bans without reason *Keurig Dr Pepper, a beverage conglomerate Political parties * Karpatendeutsche Partei (KdP; Carpathian Germany Party), Czechoslovakia * Katipunan ...
and grew his name and reputation by speaking out against Barzani. In 1975 Talabani and his followers split from the KDP and started a new, more liberal party. In essence the PUK is run on the same platform as the KDP, lobbying for "autonomy for Kurdistan, democracy for Iraq". The PUK defines itself apart from the KDP by drawing its supporters from central and southern Kurdistan. The PUK has come to represent a more urban, intellectual, and politically forward group of people, versus the traditional rhetoric of the KDP. Supporters of each party are able to distinguish themselves personally by tribal alliance, personal differences, and ideological disagreement.


The Iraqi Ba'athist Government

The
KDP KDP may refer to: Businesses *Kindle Direct Publishing, an e-publisher that bans without reason *Keurig Dr Pepper, a beverage conglomerate Political parties * Karpatendeutsche Partei (KdP; Carpathian Germany Party), Czechoslovakia * Katipunan ...
and PUK, although separate political parties, fought the same opponent, the
government of Iraq The government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution of Iraq, Constitution, approved in 2005, as a Democracy in Iraq, democratic, Parliamentary system, parliamentary republic with Islam as the official state religion. The government i ...
under the leadership of
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
. Since the beginning of the
Ba'ath Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology is ...
rule in Iraq there have been issues between the leaders of the Ba'ath and the Kurdish people. Intermittent negotiations occurred between the two groups to discuss party platforms and to try to come to a consensus on representation; however the Ba'ath were exceptionally distrustful of the Kurds and harbored suspicions against the KDP, especially of leader Barzani. In contrast, a natural alliance was drawn between the Ba'ath and political party PUK. Both were leftist organizations that advocated a Kurd-Arab alliance.


Window of opportunity

By the late 1970s, Masud Barzani had already established a force of 5,000 men in North Iraq (by 1979), and his forces engaged the PDKI during
1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran The 1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran was one of the largest Consolidation of the Iranian Revolution, nationwide uprisings in the country against the Islamic_republic#Iran, new state following the Iranian Revolution. The Kurdish rebellion began in ...
, true to their alliance with Iran.Lortz, M. G. ''Willing to Face Death: A History f Kurdish Military Forces - the Peshmerga - From the Ottoman Empire to Present-Day Iraq''. 2005: p.52. In September 1980, Iraq engaged in warfare with Iran over the Shatt al-Arab and rather than a quick victory the war had degenerated into a very long drawn out stalemate. The Kurds saw this as the prime opportunity to take control of the Kurdish areas, while the Iraqi government was preoccupied and weakened. The goal was to create a new bargaining platform and push Iraqi governmental forces out of Kurdistan. Since the beginning of the warfare, the KDP under Barazanis established a solid alliance with the Iranians, while the PUK - a leftist organization, kept its distance from the newly created conservative Islamic Republic of Iran, receiving logistic support from Baathist Syria and from Libya.


Chronology


War tactics

A wide variety of war tactics were used in this conflict, everything from the most simple hit and run to advanced chemical warfare. This conflict is a good case to look at how asymmetrical capabilities influence battle.


Kurdish tactics

To combat the Ba'ath the Kurd's strategy involved the use of
guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...
and armed with light weapons either stolen from the Iraqi troops or given to them by the Iranians.Human Rights Watch. ''GENOCIDE IN IRAQ: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds, A Middle East Watch Report''. New York City: Human Rights Watch, 1993, http://hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqanfal/ANFAL1/htm The
peshmerga The Peshmerga () are the internal security forces of Kurdistan Region. According to the Constitution of Iraq, regional governments are responsible for "the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the region such as p ...
worked with the locals to build up defenses and teach defensive tactics to the local militia in hopes of educating the mass public and protect them against future attack and seizure by the Ba'ath army. Furthermore, the peshmerga supplied the villages with a local government and services (education, medicine, security). The mountains in northern Kurdistan proved to be an excellent place to hide and camp out. The mountain region was also very difficult for the Iraqi army to traverse on foot and by air. The guerrilla style war tactics of the Kurds proved very beneficial when fighting in this region. In contrast to the helpful assistance of the northern region, the southern flatlands of Kurdistan worked against the Kurdish insurgency. The Iraqis were able to easily bomb the major cities of the southern region and the fertile valley. Kurdish guerrilla tactics of hit and run did not prove to be successful against the firepower of the Iraqis during aerial bombardment and shelling.


Iraqi tactics

The Iraq army used full-scale
military tactics Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield. They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related – kinetic or firepower, Mobility (military), mobil ...
in combating the Kurdish
insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric nature: small irregular forces ...
. In the heavily populated agricultural areas daily air raids destroyed towns, crops, and people. The army used its superior military power of more men, guns, and artillery to combat the
insurgents An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregular forces face a large, well ...
. In order to inflict the greatest destruction, the Iraqi army divided Southern Kurdistan into a grid pattern, dividing the most densely populated cities and farming areas into sections. The grid facilitated a mechanized detonation of
heavy artillery The formal definition of large-calibre artillery used by the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA) is "guns, howitzers, artillery pieces, combining the characteristics of a gun, howitzer, mortar, or rocket, capable of engaging ...
in predetermined areas by fighter planes and inflicted the greatest destruction possible. The Kurds had no knowledge of the oncoming attack or ways to protect themselves from the shelling. This was very structured and assigned per Iraqi army goals. The shelling and bombing per grid was very successful in driving mass fear among the Kurds.


Aftermath


Al-Anfal Campaign

Beyond using traditional warfare techniques the Ba'ath engaged in the use of
chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...
against the Kurds during the
al-Anfal campaign The Anfal campaign was a counterinsurgency operation which was carried out by Ba'athist Iraq from February to September 1988 during the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict at the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The campaign targeted rural Kurds because its pu ...
of 1987–88. A total onslaught began against the Kurdish people that eventually killed tens of thousands of Kurds and displaced at least one million of the Kurdish population to
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
and
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
.
Ali Hassan al-Majid Colonel General Ali Hassan al-Majid al-Tikriti (; – 25 January 2010), was an Iraqi military officer and politician under Saddam Hussein who served as Defense minister, Interior minister, and chief of the General Security. He was also the ...
, nicknamed "Chemical Ali," led the three step process of "village collectivization": the destruction of hundreds of Kurdish villages and the relocation of their residents to concentration camps, mujamma'at. This campaign was the first documented use of chemical weapons by a government against its own civilians. The process of village collectivization violated widespread human rights and is an example of systematic
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
that went unchecked by the global community. Al-Majid and his commanding officers warned if the Peshmerga did not lay down their arms and allow the cleansing program to continue peacefully the army would stop the Peshmerga with chemical weapons. Although Iraq had signed the 1925 Geneva Protocol outlawing the use of chemical and biological weapons, its application was restricted to only nationals of an enemy state signatory to the Protocol in ''international'' armed conflicts. Al-Majid began ordering the army to proceed with the deployment of shells carrying the deadly weapons, the first time a government used chemical weapons against its own civilian population.


Halabja poison gas attack

The most famous attack of chemical warfare by the Iraqi army against the Kurds was the attack on the town of
Halabja Halabja (, ) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the capital of Halabja Governorate, located about northeast of Baghdad and from the Iranian border. The city lies at the base of what is often referred to as the greater Hewraman re ...
on March 16, 1988. Over 4,000 Kurds were killed in this one attack by the combination of
mustard gas Mustard gas or sulfur mustard are names commonly used for the organosulfur compound, organosulfur chemical compound bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, which has the chemical structure S(CH2CH2Cl)2, as well as other Chemical species, species. In the wi ...
and
hydrogen cyanide Hydrogen cyanide (formerly known as prussic acid) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula, formula HCN and structural formula . It is a highly toxic and flammable liquid that boiling, boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is ...
. Between 7,000 and 10,000 civilians were injured and thousands more died of complications, diseases, etc. stemming from the release of chemical gas. The town was attacked because Kurdish guerrillas had allied with Tehran and the city was now under Iranian control. Conventional artillery, mortars, and rockets bombed Halabja for two days before the chemical attack; the use of chemical weapons was done for good measure to assure no survivors were possible. This attack is considered separate from the al-Anfal campaign and was one of the last attacks by the Iraqis during the
Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...
. This act has also been declared an act of genocide against the Kurdish people of Iraq.


End of hostilities

The rebellion by the PUK and KDP was officially declared over by the Iraqi government on September 6, 1988 when a decree of amnesty for all Iraqi Kurds was read aloud on the radio.''GENOCIDE IN IRAQ'', p. 297 The announcement came as a surprise to the Kurdish population. The decree was declared most likely because Baghdad believed the peshmerga had finally been defeated. The government pardoned the insurgents, but refused to let the Kurds return to their previous relatively free lives. The Ba'ath instituted draconian measures on all surviving towns and cities in Kurdistan. The government feared a resurgence of the insurgent peshmerga group, draconian measures prevented a revival. Furthermore, any man suspected having ties with the peshmerga insurgency were round up and relocated to camps in the southern deserts. The men taken to these deserts were tortured on a daily basis and murdered in mass quantities. It is believed these efforts to weed out any remaining insurgents lasted through 1989 with an additional 300,000 people relocated from various villages to "more modern villages with better facilities." Secure zones, or cluster camps, were created along the Iranian border as well as outside the cities of Erbil, Mosul, and Suleimaniyeh.


Post Iran–Iraq War

The decree of amnesty did not bring any gains for the Kurdish front nor did it redistribute Kurdish powers or representation in the Iraqi government. After
al-Anfal Al-Anfal (, ; The Spoils of War, Earnings, Savings, Profits) is the eighth chapter (sūrah) of the Quran, with 75 verses ( āyāt). Regarding the timing and contextual background of the revelation ('' asbāb al-nuzūl''), it is a " Medinan ...
and the post-rebellion oppression the Kurds did not engage in further resistance, instead the leaders tried more diplomatic means to engage the Ba'ath in coming to a consensus on the status of Iraqi Kurdistan. No progress was made in the diplomatic realm either. Inter-factional issues between the KDP and PUK were continually on the rise and prevented any progress in Kurdish autonomy. These internal issues degenerated into civil war in the 1990s, after the KDP and PUK took control of part of northern Iraq following the
Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
(see Iraqi Kurdish Civil War).


Recognition of Kurdish autonomy

With the overthrow of the Ba'ath government by the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in 2003 the Kurds have increased diplomatic means to seek further gains towards legitimacy. The United States and Kurdish parties disagree over the ethnic alignment of the regional government, and this disagreement continues to stall any concrete gains from occurring. The United States believes a non-ethnically defined government is best for the region so that the collective majority can broker an identity and connect both politically and as a society. However the Kurds do not agree with this concept, as they prefer a regional government explicitly built on the Kurdish identity. This is a step in the direction of autonomy and a method for the Kurdish population to showcase their abilities in governing themselves and generating a productive self-sufficient economy. Time will tell if these new negotiations and concepts will bear success for the Iraqi Kurdish plight. Massoud Barzani has been elected president of Iraqi Kurdistan and
Jalal Talabani Jalal Talabani (; ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2005 to 2014, as well as the president of the Governing Council of Iraq. Talabani was the founder and secretary-gene ...
has been elected president of the new Iraqi democratic government.


Impact: refugee and death statistics

* Refugees: At least 1 Million people fled (almost 30% of the population) to
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
,
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
and
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
** Since 1971, at least 370,000 have sought refugee in Iran, over 10% of the Iraqi Kurdistan population * Al-Anfal Campaign ** 50,000 to 100,000 were killed, including women and children ** 90% of targeted Kurdish villages were destroyed, this is approximately 4,000 villages * Halabja poison gas attack ** 3,000–5,000 killed ** 7,000 to over 10,000 injured ** At least 50,000 Kurds escaped into Iran after this one attack These numbers were collected by
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
.''GENOCIDE IN IRAQ''


Role of Iran

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
covertly aided the Iraqi Kurds against the Iraqis with weapons, food supplies, and intelligence in exchange for intelligence on Iraq movements and assistance along the northern Iran–Iraq border.Gunter, Michael M. "The KDP-PUK Conflict in Northern Iraq." ''Middle East Journal'' 50.2 (1996): 18. Print In addition, Iran was an ally of Masud Barzani's and aided the KDP with arms and training of peshmerga forces and leaders. In exchange for arms and education the Iranians received intelligence on Iraqi military information and Kurdish assistance in fighting the Iraqi army. The Iranians had an invested interest in assisting the Kurds. The constant siege by the Kurds preoccupied the Ba'ath and prevented the army from devoting entire resources to conquering the Iranians. The Iranians supported the Kurds just to the point where they were powerful enough to fight against the Iraqis, but not strong enough to overcome the Iraqi army.


See also

* First Iraqi–Kurdish War *
Iraqi–Kurdish conflict The Iraqi–Kurdish conflict consists of a series of wars, rebellions and disputes between the Kurds and the central authority of Iraq starting in the 20th century shortly after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Some put the marki ...
* List of wars involving Iraq *
List of conflicts in the Middle East This is a list of modern conflicts ensuing in the geographic and political region known as the Middle East. The "Middle East" is traditionally defined as the Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia), Levant, and Lower Egypt, Egypt and neighboring areas ...
*
A Modern History of the Kurds ''A Modern History of the Kurds'' is a history of the Kurdish people, written by David McDowall and published by I.B.Tauris in 1996 (hardback first edition). The work is a history of the Kurdish people from the 19th century to the present. ...
by David McDowall


Literature

* Ghareeb, Edmond. ''The Kurdish Question in Iraq'', Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1981. * Gunter, Michael M. "The KDP-PUK Conflict in Northern Iraq." ''Middle East Journal'' 50.2 (1996) * Gunter, Michael M. ''The Kurds of Iraq: Tragedy and Hope''. New York: St. Martin's Press, New York, 1992. * McDowall, David. ''The Kurds: A Nation Denied''. London: Minority Rights Group, 1992. * O'Ballance, Edgar. ''The Kurdish Struggle, 1920–1994''. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc (1996). * Romano, David. ''Kurdish Nationalist Movement Opportunity, Mobilization, and Identity''. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2006.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurdish rebellions in Iraq, 1983-1986 1983-1986 rebellions 1983 in Iraqi Kurdistan 1984 in Iraqi Kurdistan 1985 in Iraqi Kurdistan 1986 in Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi opposition (pre-2003) Military operations of the Iran–Iraq War in 1983 Military operations of the Iran–Iraq War in 1984 Military operations of the Iran–Iraq War in 1985 Military operations of the Iran–Iraq War in 1986 Military operations of the Iran–Iraq War involving the Peshmerga