The Battle of Sulaymaniyah was one of the battles fought during the

1991 uprisings in Iraq The 1991 Iraqi uprisings were ethnic and religious uprisings against Saddam Hussein, Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist Iraq, Ba'athist regime in Iraq that were led by Shia Islam in Iraq, Shia Arabs and Kurds in Iraq, Kurds. The uprisings lasted f ...

Sulaymaniyah Sulaymaniyah or Slemani (; ), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and is the capital of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate. It is surrounded by the Azmar (Ezmer), Goizha (Goyje) and Qaiwan (Qeywan) Mountains in the northeast, Bara ...

, a mostly

Kurd Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

ish city with a population of over 100,000, was the first to be liberated by the rebels and the last to fall back to the Iraqi army.

Prelude

Since the autonomy agreement collapsed in 1974, Kurds had been

fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is resorted to either as a method of ...

an armed insurgency 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 ...

s regime. After 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- ...

heavily damaged the Iraqi military and an uprising began in Southern Iraq, Jash (Kurdish militia used by Saddam's regime to fight

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 ...

) deserters, seized control of the city of

Ranya Ranya (, ) is a town in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, and is part of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate. It is twinned with Duluth, Minnesota. Geographical Location Ranya is located in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate in the Kurdistan Region ...

with support of the local population. Many members of the Jash took sides with the Peshmerga. The revolutionary feeling spread to the rest of Kurdistan, where people took to the streets and Peshmerga entered the cities and seized control of Raniya, Chawar Qurna, Koi-Sanjaq, Sulaymaniya,

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 ...

, Arbat,

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

Dohuk Duhok (; ; , ) is a city in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is the Capital (political), capital city of Duhok Governorate. Name The city of Duhok received its name from the Kurdish languages, Kurdish words ’du’ (two) and ’hok’ (lump) as a ...

Zakho Zakho, also spelled Zaxo (, , , , ) is a city in the Kurdistan Region, at the centre of the Zakho District of the Dohuk Governorate, located a few kilometers from the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing. Zakho is known for its celebrations of Newr ...

and

Kirkuk Kirkuk (; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate. The city is home to a diverse population of Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, Iraqi Turkmens and Arabs. Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Cit ...

Uprising

Peshmerga offensive

The uprising started on 7 March as lightly armed Peshmerga entered the city and ousted government forces. The Peshmerga were joined by local civilians, who took the streets and helped the Peshmerga launch a mass assault on all government buildings and detention centers, freeing hundreds of political prisoners. The last and biggest point of resistance by the Iraqi security forces was the heavily fortified Security Directorate. Ba'athist forces fought off the Kurds for over 2 hours, after which Kurdish Peshmerga and rioters entered the building; by 8 March, the entire city was under Peshmerga control. Many captured Ba'athists were torn to pieces, alive, by the angry crowds; others were burned or cut to pieces with saws. According to

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 ...

, an estimated 700 Ba'athists security personnel were killed in such executions by the people, but regular soldiers were mostly pardoned and allowed to return home.

Government counter-offensive

After the defeat of rebels in the south and the fall of all southern cities to Iraqi security forces, the Iraqi government turned north, where they deployed aircraft, heavy artillery and tanks to confront the Peshmerga. With food shortages and no international backing, the Peshmerga were outmanned and outgunned, with over three-quarters of the Iraqi army on the outskirts of Sulaymaniyah and 20,000 Peshmerga protecting the city. Heavy fighting occurred around the outskirts. The Peshmerga eventually retreated into central Sulaymaniyah after withstanding a ten-day assault by over 90,000 Iraqi troops supported by tanks and aircraft. Casualties were heavy on both sides. The outgunned Peshmerga lost 6,000 of their original strength of only 20,000, and because the Iraqi army lacked tactical training, they suffered dramatic casualties and lost nearly 17,000 troops. On 31 March, the government offensive against the city itself started. It began from the west and focused on the civilian neighborhoods of Bakhtiari and Rizjari. The district of Azadi was also hit by heavy shelling and by attacks from helicopters. On 1 April, the Peshmerga attacked Iraqi tanks from the hills overlooking Bakhtiari, destroying a quarter of the Iraqi army's tanks; but by 2 April the Peshmerga called on civilians to evacuate the town and flee north before the Iraqi forces entered. In a last attempt to hold the city, the Peshmerga launched the suicidal Shahid Mahmood offensive, in which they wiped out several lines of Iraqi infantrymen, and by the end of 2 April had successfully captured the Sannandj road. To avoid annihilation, the remaining Peshmerga retreated back to Mount Qandil. By 3 April, the military took control of the city, which had turned into a ghost town as all civilians had fled in fear of government reprisals. The city therefore also remained relatively intact, although suffered heavy looting from Iraqi soldiers.

Aftermath

After many Kurds had returned to their homes, in July the Peshmerga decided to confront the Iraqi Army again. On 20 July, 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) and

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) Peshmerga launched a joint assault on the cities of

, Dohuk and Sulaymaniyah. By October 1991, a cease-fire was signed, the government leaving the Peshmerga in control of some of land. This area became a de facto Kurdish state within Iraq and was completely blockaded by Saddam Hussein and cut off from the rest of the country.

References