In 1983, the revolutionary guerrilla activities against the Ba'ath regime in the form of attacks on outposts and military bases, setting ambushes, and many other methods were widely continuing in various areas of Kurdistan, which caused great damage to the government forces (Barzani, 2021, 93). One of the activities that the Peshmerga force carried out against the military forces of the Ba'ath regime was raiding the Sitkan Pass road to carry out a Peshmerga activity and cause damage to the Iraqi Army, as well as disturbing the peaceful sleep in the eyes of their forces and whispering in their ears that the revolution continues in all cities, villages, and high mountains even if they are filled with soldiers. The Peshmerga does not stop in guerrilla activities and reaches them wherever they are in the heart of the government's authority and strikes them with their blow.
To discuss and talk about how to carry out that Peshmerga activity of the Sitkan Pass, we were able to find one of the Peshmerga who participated in the activity and bring him to talk about how the battle started and its results, named (Nabi Khan Aziz Omar), who told us in detail and said: We were a force of the Kurdistan Peshmerga, numbering 14 Peshmerga, led by Anwar Saeed Agha Nawandayi, in the spring of 1983 to carry out a guerrilla activity while on a tour around the town of Diana, but what we intended to carry out did not work out for us, so we were forced to return. In the village of Piruswan, we stopped for a short time to check on the secret organizations. There, we received information that the next morning, the Kharomar company military base, which is located on a slope belonging to the heights of Zozk Mountain, would be relocated. We saw this as a suitable opportunity to seize the moment during the relocation and attack them.
The aforementioned continued in his narrative and said: At night, we reached the foothills of Rutak Mountain, which is a place called Sarbard where there were several animal shelters of the villagers of Piruswan. The place is located opposite Zozk Mountain, where the headquarters of the company military base is very clearly visible from there. We spent that night in that place. With binoculars, we were monitoring that time until the new force of soldiers came to replace the old force. From the morning, the Peshmerga force was in monitoring and waiting until after the afternoon. Then we saw that movement of change was seen in the base. Then the time came for our Peshmerga to start moving. We stationed two of our Peshmerga who had (PKC) weapons in a place opposite the pass where we carried out the activity for support and protection of the attacking Peshmerga force during the battle and firing at the surrounding outposts as a support force, because the heights of Sartiz and Rutak around the Sitkan Pass were all outposts and army military bases. The Peshmerga moved along the mountain ridge in a very short time from the foot of Rutak Mountain in the forest and dense jungle, covering tens of kilometers until they reached the Sitkan Pass, which was a military traffic road about a kilometer away from the army military base headquarters, located between the two villages of Sitkan and Piruswan.
The aforementioned said: As soon as we reached the pass, we saw a large number of soldiers coming on foot along the road to the place where we were stationed, for the protection and safety of the military traffic road and the return road of other forces. Six soldiers were very close to the pass. If the Peshmerga had been a few minutes late, they would have arrived earlier and we would not have been able to carry out the activity. But when we arrived, we split into groups of two or three at a distance of (2-3) meters from each other. Immediately, each one of us in his place showered the soldiers with gunfire with the light weapons we had. In a short time of the battle, all those soldiers who were on the road were hit before the eyes of the Peshmerga and fell to the ground. The aforementioned pointed out that the base and the surrounding outposts woke up to the fact that the Peshmerga force had attacked them, and they fired at the scene of the battle and the area of the region with DShK and mortars. The Peshmerga also monitored the situation for a short time, then descended along their path on the height and returned without suffering any losses.
Regarding the reaction of the Iraqi Army after the Peshmerga attack, one of the residents of Piruswan village named Jalal Sleman Shwan, who was himself a member of the secret organization of the revolution, told us and said: After the Peshmerga force carried out their activity, it was late in the evening, a short time left for the evening prayer. The outposts of Kharomar, Zozk, and Sartiz bombarded the area of Piruswan village with DShK and mortars. All those who were animal herders and owners of sheep and livestock brought their animals down to the shelters and returned their livestock to the village, because the bombardment continued throughout the night as it was the return road of the Peshmerga. After the Peshmerga carried out an activity in that place, the government established a daily military observation point on the pass, then turned it into an outpost for hired gunmen. In addition to that, they mined the entire pass and the surroundings of the outpost so that the road would be protected from the danger of another Peshmerga attack.
Sources:1-Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Four, 1975-1990 Gulan Revolution, Part Two, First Edition, Roxana Printing House, 2021.
2-Interview, Nabi Khan Aziz Omar, Peshmerga of the Gulan Revolution, participant in the battle, resident of Soran. March 24, 2026.
3-Interview, Jalal Sleman Shwan, from Piruswan village, resident of Soran. March 23, 2026.