The evil intention of the Ba'athists after the 8 February 1963 coup against the Kurdish people began when they started forming the most infamous Ba'athist armed organization in the history of the country of Iraq, which was the (National Guard) organization. After the negotiations reached a deadlock, it did not take long before they removed the masks from their faces through that organization and openly declared war in front of journalists, arrogantly announcing that the Iraqi Army had prepared itself for a picnic in the beloved north, and that was when they began attacking the innocent people of Kurdistan. It was on 10 June 1963 that the National Council of the Revolutionary Command in Iraq decided that Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Mosul, and Kirkuk would be considered military zones and would become a theater for military operations.
The government intended to put the weight of the attack on a specific front, while keeping itself busy with easy and sporadic fighting on other fronts. Among all the battlefronts, it chose the Akre-Pires front. The purpose of this action was to reach Barzan. It entrusted the task of this operation to two army divisions: the First Division led by Brigadier General Staff Abdul Karim Farhan and the Second Division led by Brigadier General Staff Ibrahim Faisal al-Ansari for the Mergasor front. The implementation of the plan was directly under the supervision of the Minister of Defense Saleh Mahdi Ammash and the Chief of Staff of the Army Tahir Yahya. All of them believed that occupying Barzan would guarantee the destruction of their revolution.
On 15 June 1963 the forces of the First Division, supported by 5000 mercenaries, attacked the Sari Akre mountain. After a very fierce battle and tough resistance, the Iraqi Army was able to take control of this strategic location, after leaving 69 dead and 122 wounded in the battle. Among the mercenaries, there were 23 dead and 37 wounded. After that, the Iraqi Army prepared to occupy Pires Mountain.
Upon the arrival of the news of the Pires battle to the leader of the revolution Mullah Mustafa Barzani, he prepares himself to return to the battle area; he had previously planned to go to the Bradost area. In his place, he appoints Colonel Abdulkafi Nabawi as the person in charge of the Spilik front and Abdullah Agha Pishdari as his assistant, ordering them to make the Spilik front a line of defense. The government had planned to move from that front towards Mergasor. On the night of 18 to 19 June, Mullah Mustafa Barzani goes above the village of Safti, which is located on the northern side of the foothills of Pires Mountain. This location had been identified by the Iraqi government, which is why four (Hawker Hunter) helicopters bombed it heavily. As a result, they remained safe. At that moment, Barzani calls Mullah Shni, the commander of the battle front, and his assistants for a discussion and to set a defense plan. It is decided that the Peshmerga will strengthen their positions to protect the summit of Pires Mountain. Also, by Barzani's order, a force led by Omar Agha Dolemari goes to the Shush area west of Akre Mountain to strike the enemy from the rear. Likewise, a force led by Hadi Hasko goes to Sari Sada above Gali Zenta to strike the enemy from the east. At the same time, Barzani issued an order to Colonel Abdulkafi Nabawi to strengthen Spilik and increase pressure on the Third Brigade in the Khalifan area, which was surrounded by the Peshmerga at that time.
On 25 June 1963 the Iraqi Army, accompanied by 10000 mercenaries and supported by two artillery battalions and four squadrons of (MiG and Hawker Hunter) aircraft, launched a fierce attack on Pires Mountain. The bombardment was such that it was as if the whole mountain was on fire. In that battle, the Peshmerga had very simple weapons and little ammunition; even the cannons did not have the necessary shells. This made the leader of the revolution Mullah Mustafa Barzani always emphasize during confrontations to hold on to the little ammunition they have so it would not be wasted, while the weapons were mostly light weapons consisting of (short English rifles, Darjo, Brno, Brno machine guns, 60 mm cannons), while the great logistical capability that the government forces had at their disposal was incomparable. Regarding the food of the Peshmerga, as a Peshmerga of that time who was responsible for delivering food and supplies to the Peshmerga points out, the people of the region collected food for the Peshmerga among themselves, and it mostly consisted of dry bread, kashk, lentils, and bulgur... etc.
The battle on Pires Mountain continued after the revolutionaries inflicted heavy losses on the government forces. On 28 June, the government was able to occupy the mountain. The capture of the mountain came after the commander of the Pires Mountain front, Mullah Shni Bidaruni, who was one of the companions of Mullah Mustafa Barzani to the Soviet Union, was martyred along with five other Peshmerga on the evening of Thursday, 27 June, on the left summit of the mountain due to heavy government shelling after several defensive battles on the mountain. The Iraqi Army's bombing covered a wide area; the Nazar area in the foothills of Pires Mountain from the north, and Barozh in the foothills of Shirin Mountain from the south were subjected to heavy and targeted aerial bombardment, in such a way that civilians were wounded much more than the Peshmerga forces. When the attack on Pires began, an attack on the Shush and Sharman area, where Omar Agha Dolemari was the commander, the attacking force was badly defeated and left behind many corpses of its dead. If it were not for the wounding of Omar Agha, it was possible that the commander of the government force, Colonel Staff Sa'ab Hardan, would have been taken prisoner. After being wounded, he moved away from the battle front, and in his place, Hormuz Malak Chako became his deputy. According to an army telegram sent on 28 June to the headquarters of the 1 Brigade of the 1 Division, they admitted to the killing of 27 people and the wounding of 51 people.
It is worth mentioning that in those fierce defenses that the Peshmerga made during the Pires battle and the battles that followed, many Peshmerga were martyred and wounded, including Din Kanyelnji, Khan Bidaruni, Halke Dolemari, Hussein Muhammad Agha Mergasori, Ahmed Rashashchi, Shit Sarkeri, Saeed Sherwani, and many others were martyred.
Sources:1- Mamkhan Sherawani, Barzan and the Lineage of the Barzanis, place of publication not mentioned, 1995, p. 105.
2- Marwan Salih al-Ma'ruf, Mustafa Barzani the Leader of the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Haj Hashim Press, Erbil, 2018, p. 118.
3- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part One, Ministry of Education Press, 2004, p. 125.
4- Shakib Aqrawi, Years of Ordeal in Kurdistan, Culture Press Directorate, Erbil, 2007, p. 128.
5- Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board.
6- Shawkat Mullah Ismail Hassan, Days in the History of the September Revolution, Second Edition, Tafsir Office, Erbil, 2006, p. 165; Haji Mirxan Dolemari, Searching for Justice, Volume One, No Place of Publication, 2021, p. 296.