After the coup of July 17-30, 1968, and the return of the Ba'athists to power, a situation of neither war nor peace existed in Kurdistan for a while with the government forces, but clashes with the armed men of the old Politburo continued, and occasionally here and there some minor fighting occurred between the army and the forces of the revolution. However, on November 10, 1968, the Ba'ath regime, in coordination with the armed men of the old Politburo wing, attacked all the areas under the control of the revolution with all the equipment of a large army. In these attacks, until January 1969, they saw much progress and took control of many cities and towns.
Qaradagh was one of the areas that came under the attack of those forces. Due to the collusion and betrayal of two commanders of the Qaradagh battalions named Jafar Barzinji and Kamil Malla Wais, they handed over their areas to the mercenary gunmen. Here we point to one of the battles on a mountain peak in the area called Hallaj and the Great Daban, which the government forces and the aforementioned gunmen had taken control of. It was very important for the Kurdistan army to get it back into their hands. It is worth mentioning that this Peshmerga attack and the recapture of this mountain peak were directly under the supervision of Idris Barzani It took place. This was at a time when the government forces and the old Politburo group had been able to place a wide area of Garmian up to the Hallaj and Daban mountains in Qaradagh under their control. Clearly, because of the importance of the area, the leadership of the revolution decided that those areas must be liberated and returned under the influence of the revolution.
After holding several meetings between the military commanders of the area regarding how to attack those places, the leader of the revolution, Mustafa Barzani, was informed of the situation. Barzani also Idris Barzani instructed him to supervise the battle himself. After reorganizing the forces and drawing up a solid plan of attack on the Hallaj and Daban mountain peaks, he decided that the mountain peak must be retaken as soon as possible. After carrying out the attack on the mountain peak, it was taken over in a period of 1:45, one hour and forty-five minutes, and returned under the control of the Peshmerga.
Then, the leadership of the revolution decided that a widespread attack should be launched on the Qaradagh areas and other places in order to expel the government forces and mercenaries once and for all. For this, the 4th and 9th battalions were instructed to attack from Barzan towards the Sharazur plain and from there move towards Qaradagh. A force from the Erbil plain and the Rizgari force were to attack from two sides along with the 5th battalion of the Qaradagh force, with one of their forces advancing towards the Qadir Karam and Sangaw area and the other force towards the Bazian and Qaradagh area. During that period, Lieutenant Tahir Ali Wali Beg was the commander of the 4th battalion of the Qaradagh force, Aziz Qazi was the commander of the 9th battalion.
To start the attack, it was decided that on November 29-30, 1969, all forces would attack all the places mentioned below at the same time. As in the plan, the Peshmerga attack began and saw significant progress. A great victory was recorded, and it was possible to sweep all the areas of Qaradagh, Bazian, Sangaw, Qadir Karam, Tuz Khurmatu, Kifri, Kalar, Bawanoor, and Darbandikhan of the government forces and the armed men of the old Politburo wing and return them under the command of the Peshmerga Forces. After a major defeat, the government forces and mercenary gunmen suffered heavy losses, and a large amount of weapons and ammunition were seized. From then on, the government forces and gunmen collapsed once and for all, and their morale was so shattered that they were no longer able to fight the Peshmerga forces.
This victory of the Peshmerga forces was interpreted by the leadership of the revolution as an important and decisive victory at that moment. Therefore, Barzani, the leader of the revolution, thanked all the forces that participated in the battle. For the new Ba'ath regime, it was also a test, with the cooperation of the old Politburo forces, of how much they could succeed over the Kurdistan revolution and realize their long-standing dream, which consisted of the final collapse of the Kurdish revolution, but their attempt failed and did not achieve success.
Sources:1- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part One, Aylul Revolution 1961-1975, Ministry of Culture Press, 1st ed., Erbil, 2004.
2- Ibrahim Jalal, Southern Kurdistan and the Aylul Revolution: Foundation and Collapse 1961-1975, 4th ed., 2021.
3- Karwan Johar Muhammad, Idris Barzani 1944-1987 Life and Political and Military Role in the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Hivi Press, Erbil, 2019.
4- Khoshawi Ali Kanyelnji, Memoirs of Aziz Qazi Hamad Surchi, Danishfar Press, Erbil, 2023.
5- Hawkar Karim Hama Sharif, Aylul Revolution, Salahaddin University Press, 1st ed., Erbil, 2012.
6- Ari Karim, Some Living Pages in the Aylul Revolution, Khabat Press, Duhok 1999.