Shishar is a rugged and strategic mountain in the Betwata area near Mount Makok and the Saruchawa sub-district. The ruggedness of the mountain has made any military force that holds the mountain dominant over the area because it overlooks the entire region and looks out over the Saruchawa-Balisan road.

After the Iraqi Army could not advance on the mountains of Kiwerash, Makok, and Hawre, in mid-September 1974, it drew up a plan to take control of Mount Shishar in order to be dominant over the entire area. By capturing that mountain, it would achieve several goals, such as narrowing the Peshmerga positions, especially the force on Mount Hawre, which would be flanked. Furthermore, the Peshmerga forces would not be able to move through the valley between Mount Shishar and Makok, the pressure of the Iraqi Army on the Peshmerga forces in Betwata and Balisan would increase, and the range of the Iraqi Army's artillery would be longer than before.

The Commander of the 2nd Peshmerga Division Rashid Sindi ordered the Safin, Erbil Plain, and Betwata forces to strengthen the defensive line in the Balisan Valley. Part of the Erbil Plain force was to coordinate and cooperate with the Kawa force in Pshdar. The 2nd Division of the Iraqi Army, with its full composition of tank battalions, the 16th Armored Force, the Air Force, and mercenaries (Jash), were on alert to attack Mount Shishar. The Peshmerga forces that were in the defensive positions consisted of the 3rd Battalion of the Safin Force, commanded by Muhammad Sabir, Head of Branch One, Omar Sultan, Head of Branch Two, and Sadiq Muhammad Amin, Head of Branch Three. 

The beginning of the Iraqi Army's attack started with heavy shelling of the Peshmerga positions, with the intention that after the shelling, the Peshmerga would lose their ability to resist and the army soldiers could easily climb the mountain. After the shelling stopped, the army's infantry force stormed the Peshmerga positions. The Peshmerga forces were on alert in their positions with an organized plan; when they approached, they confronted them and repelled them strongly, breaking their attack and forcing them to retreat, leaving a number of dead on the battlefield. In this attack, 3 Peshmerga were martyred along with several wounded due to the intense shelling.   

The Iraqi Army continued to shell the Peshmerga during that period, but could not take control of the mountain until the collapse of the revolution in 1975. After it could not take control of Shishar at the end of September, it changed the direction of its attacks and carried out a series of attacks and raids on Dola Raqa to lighten the burden on its forces on the Rawanduz front so that part of the Peshmerga force in Rawanduz would be transferred to the Betwata area and the pressure of the Peshmerga on that axis of the battle would be eased, from where it would advance its forces. Despite this, the Safin, Erbil Plain, Betwata, and 4th Zozk Battalion forces stopped them, did not let them advance, and broke their attacks.

Sources:   

  1. Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part Two, The Aylul Revolution 1961-1975, First Edition – Erbil, 2004.

  2. Sangar Ibrahim Khoshnaw, Military Events of the Aylul Revolution 1970-1975, First Edition, Erbil, 2022.

  3. Khurshid Shera, Struggle and Blood, Memoirs of the Peshmerga Years, Haji Hashim Printing House, Third Edition, Erbil – 2015.

  4. Sayid Kaka, Memoirs of a Peshmerga, Ministry of Culture Printing House, First Edition, Erbil – 1997.