Operation Erbil
Masuma Sajjadian
52 بازدید
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Ramadan Regiment, in cooperation with Iraqi resistance groups, carried out limited operations in the Erbil region of Iraq from 1986 to 1988.
Erbil province is located in a mountainous region, northern Iraq. It is also adjacent to the Iranian border cities of Piranshahr and Sardasht to the east and Türkiye to the north. This province is located 80 kilometers east of Mosul, while Kirkuk is located to the south and Sulaymaniyah to the southeast. Erbil province, consisting of ten cities, is located between two rivers, i.e., the Zab Bozor and the Zab Koch. The vast plain of Erbil is also located southwest of it. The two mountain ranges of Hibet Sultan and Sefin separate them from the Ravandoz plain.
Kurdish, Arabic, and Turkish are the prevalent languages spoken in Erbil. Most of the people are Sunni Muslims whose occupations are agriculture and animal husbandry. Although the autonomy of the Kurdish regions was officially declared by the Iraqi government in 1974, the Kurds considered it a formal move.
After the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran, the armed actions of counter-revolutionaries in Iranian Kurdistan caused insecurity in this region. The logistical obstacle of these counter-revolution was located in the border strip of Iraq and, with the support of the Iraqi army, they managed to remove it.
The establishment of military bases and the free movement of opponents in the northern provinces of Iraq made it easy for them to reach strategic areas and facilities within Iraq. The desire of the groups opposed to the Iraqi government to cooperate with the Islamic Republic of Iran in the fight against the Iraqi army resulted in numerous joint operations occurring in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Among the goals of these operations were to keep the Iraqi army occupied, infiltrate Iraq’s territory, make Iraq's sphere of authority insecure, prevent the concentration of Iraqi forces to the southern axis, liberate the northern lands of Iraq, and ensure the security of Iranian Kurdistan.
Cross-border operations were carried out in three ways. Some of the operations were carried out independently by the Ramadan Regiment, but it benefited from intelligence or opposition guerrilla forces. Some operations were carried out by the opposing forces independently and they benefited from the support of the Ramadan Regiment, and some operations were carried out jointly by the Ramadan Regiment and the Iraqi opposition.
The units under the command of Ramadan Regiment included the 9th Badr Corps, the 6th Special Guards Division, the 75th Zafar Brigade and the 65th Hijra Brigade. Iraqi opposition groups that cooperated with the Regiment include the Patriotic Union of Iraqi Kurdistan, the Democratic Party of Iraqi Kurdistan, the Quwwat of Seyyed al-Shuhadah, peace be upon him, the Islamic Hezbollah, the Democratic Party of the Kurdistan People, the Kurdish Hezbollah of Iraq, the Socialist Party of Iraq, the Islamic Movement of Iraq, the Islamic Amal Organization of Iraq, the Islamic Army of Kurdistan. Iraq and the Peshmerga. .
From September 1986 to July 31, 1987, 166 operations were carried out in the Erbil region of Iraq. Forty operations were carried out jointly and the rest of the operations were carried out independently or with the support of the Ramadan Regiment.
The first operation was carried out on 9 September 1986 with an ambush of two Iraqi military vehicles on Hayat Road. Twenty other ambush operations were carried out in the Erbil region.
On October 25th of the same year, the Ramadan Regiment and the Iraqi Kurdish Hezbollah attacked three bases in the Guwara Barzan area, 20 kilometers into Iraqi territory. Eighty other operations of the like were carried out.
On April 5, 1987, the first infiltration operation was carried out jointly in Erbil and damage was done to an Iraqi military base in the Shirvan Mazin region. Five other infiltration operations were carried out in the region after this operation.
On April 11, 1987, a team consisting of Iraqi Kurdish Hezbollah Peshmerga and the forces of the Ramadan Regiment attacked a military base in the Goli Bakhme area of Soran and caused damage to it. After this, fifteen more offensive operations were carried out.
On May 22, two battalions of the Iraqi armed forces moved to the Balyan region to destroy two villages and suppress the opposition. The Balyan area was one of the bases of Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party and Ramadan Regiment. The forces of the base left the Balyan area with weapons and equipment, awaiting the Iraqi forces. The Iraqi forces, who did not expect an early conflict, were surprised and forced to retreat. This was the first defensive operation and twelve other defensive operations followed.
The first destructive operation was carried out on May 17, 1987. It intended to hit the Iraqi war machine and make the rear of its armed forces unsafe, 50 kilometers into Iraqi territory. The Kurdish Peshmerga of Hezbollah laid mines on the roads of Kulikan to Diyana and Siddikan to Diyana. The Iraqi forces were trapped in the mine field for about five hours and returned to Diyana city with three dead and several wounded. Eighteen other demolition operations were also carried out.
On the first of September 1987, the Peshmerga of the Patriotic Union of Iraqi Kurdistan identified a Baathist officer in the city of Rania who was responsible for the arrest and execution of many Iraqi dissidents. They pursued and assassinated him. Eight other operations like this were carried out.
In response to the operations carried out in the Erbil region, the Iraqi army adopted a ‘scorched earth’ policy. This meant that any residential area that was occupied by Iranian forces or cooperated with Iranian forces, if possible, would be razed to the ground, or chemically bombed, if out of reach.
On the 7th of February 1989, the forces of the Iraqi Kurdistan Patriotic Union and the Ramadan Regiment attacked Saddam's summer residence in the southwest of Erbil province. In this operation, about 350 people were killed, more than 700 were injured and 50 captured. In addition, the radar system and telecommunication stations were destroyed. The next day, by order of Saddam, 20 of the base’s commanders and local officials, and the brigade commander stationed at the residence were executed.
On the 6th of March, 220 members of the Kurdish Patriotic Union and Ramadan Regiment attacked the Erbil barracks (headquarters of the 5th Iraqi Regiment) and returned to their bases at night.
These operations carried out in Erbil for nearly two years caused major blows and injuries to the Iraqi military and its facilities.[1]
[1] Summary of the article from the Holy Defence Encyclopaedia, Volume 1, Tehran: The Holy Defence Encyclopaedia Center, Holy Defence Science and Education Research Center, Foundation for the Preservation of the Works and Publication of the Values of the Sacred Defence, 2009, pp. 410-460.
