Mount Korek is one of the strategic mountains in the region, and the control of any military force over the entire mountain would pose a danger to the city of Rawanduz, the Diana Plain, and its surroundings, which is called the Soran Basin, and it was difficult for the other force to hold out in the region. Although the Iraqi Army had previously withdrawn its forces from the Rawanduz garrison and the village of Balkian to the Spilik area west of the town of Khalifan, it did not withdraw from the summit of Mount Korek.

With the resumption of the war in 1974, the Peshmerga Forces attacked it several times, but they could not overcome it because the Iraqi Army was able to defend the region due to its advanced weapons.

The geographical location of Mount Korek separates (Gali Ali Beg) and Mount Korz. In an attack on Korz in April 1974, the Peshmerga Forces seized the Iraqi Army's positions. Although the Iraqi Army tried several times to regain control over it and extend its advance to the Diana Plain and the Balkayati region, it failed.

With (Gali Ali Beg), the Iraqi Army wanted to attack and continue its advance via the Hamilton Road. But the Peshmerga Forces, to protect this position and thwart the Iraqi Army's attack plan, mined the roads and prepared to blow up the bridges, so that the Iraqi Army's tanks and armored vehicles could not cross.

With the start of the attack, the Peshmerga Forces blew up several bridges on the road, and while the soldiers were repairing the bridges and the engineering department was removing mines to open the road, the Artillery of the Revolution stationed on the heights of the Balkian and Babashtian mountains began shelling them heavily and did not allow them to perform their duties, and their attack failed. Therefore, the military commanders in the army, with the help of Russian advisors, thought of another way to attack.

Besides the attacks on Korz and (Gali Ali Beg), in the month of April, the Iraqi Army attacked the Peshmerga positions at the foot of the Korek hills above the Bekhal waterfall and Sarchia. Supported by warplanes, heavy weapons, and countless soldiers, the Iraqi Army was initially able to seize some places such as (Daraqasb - Date Tree) and Kornuk, which caused casualties on both sides. However, the Peshmerga Forces launched a counterattack on April 19, 1974, to control their positions again and to expel the Iraqi Army, and they were able to win and return to their positions.

 

On August 8, 1974, the Iraqi Army, led by Brigadier General Ismail Tay Naeemi, launched another massive attack on the Korek and Korz mountains, in order to bypass the Peshmerga positions and seize Rawanduz and the Diana Plain. But due to the difficulty of the region, it could not rely on tanks and armored vehicles, and the Peshmerga Forces resisted the attack fiercely, which led to the defeat of the Iraqi Army and its repulsion. They even left 400 corpses on the battlefield. Six Peshmerga were martyred in the battle, and it is worth noting that the Artillery of the Revolution led by Ali Dolmari played an important role in repelling the Iraqi Army's attack.

The Iraqi Army did not surrender to this defeat, but changed its strategy and thought of a plan far from the imagination of the Peshmerga. Led by Staff Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Wahab, he repaired a road from the top of Mount Korek to its bottom, between Korek and Bekhal in the darkness of the night, through the use of heavy bulldozers to remove rocks and make way for tanks and military armored vehicles.

On the morning of August 18, 1974, the Iraqi Army, consisting of the infantry of the Fifth Mountain Division of the Fourth Brigade and the Second Tank Battalion of the Eighth Armored Force, attacked with Soviet T55 tanks and American M113 armored vehicles. They descended from the top of the mountain until they reached the Bekhal road.

The situation turned in favor of the Iraqi Army and the Peshmerga evacuated their positions and retreated. The Iraqi Army tanks entered the city of Rawanduz, and climbed Mount Babashtian on the back side towards the artillery placed at the bottom of the mountain overlooking (Gali Ali Beg) to support the Peshmerga Forces in Mount Korz and (Gali Ali Beg) and the foot of Korek. Especially in (Gali Ali Beg), where the Iraqi Army soldiers could not advance in (Kani Maran) because of this artillery. And they were not aware of the arrival of the Iraqi Army tanks at the positions of the Peshmerga Forces, where there were three Peshmerga, and all of them were captured.

The Iraqi Army achieved a great victory in this attack; because it was trying with all its might for five months to reach Rawanduz and Diana. After this incident, the Peshmerga Forces withdrew from Korz to Diana from the back side, and left Bekhal from the side of the foot of Mount Korek and withdrew to Bankawal and Barziwa, and established a defense line in the Akuyan, Handren, and Zozk valley and the Omar Agha Strait.

Sources:

1- Interview with Qadir Hassan Sitkani, Peshmerga of the Aylul Revolution, 31/12/2022.

2- Ghazi Adel Gardi, A Peshmerga in the Service of Barzani... Haji Birokhi, Volume One, Second Edition, 2020, p. 446-448.

3- Sangar Ibrahim Khoshnaw, Military Events of the Aylul Revolution 1970-1975, First Edition, Erbil, 2022, p. 201-202.

4- Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Committee.

5- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part Two, First Edition, Erbil 2004, p. 157.

6- Interview with Muhammad Aziz Omar, Peshmerga of the Aylul Revolution, 18/1/2023