Idris Barzani, an influential leader and a prominent figure of the revolution, passed away on 31 January 1987 and bid farewell to the revolution and the struggle of the Kurdistan liberation movement for the last time. With this, mourning and grief overshadowed the leadership of the revolution and the Peshmerga forces. The Ba'ath regime saw this as an opportunity and wanted to exploit that situation and began moving with the intention of carrying out a widespread attack on the areas under the control of the revolution. The leadership of the revolution, realizing this, decided to strengthen the ranks of the Peshmerga forces and expand their activities to disrupt the enemy's plan.
It is clear that in light of that decision by the revolution leadership, a Peshmerga force led by Muhammad Murad planned to carry out an activity in the heart of the government's authority, to show that with the loss of any leader of the revolution, the Peshmerga's activities would not stop, but rather expand. For this purpose, they crept into the slopes of the village of Dashtmeri and identified a military outpost that overlooked the village in the Ibrahim Khalil (Rizgari) sub-district of the Badinan region to make it the target of the activity.
On the night of 8 to 9 February 1987, the Peshmerga force moved and reached the target location, but a major problem arose, making it difficult for them to easily implement their plan as it was, which was the presence of several rows of mines around the outpost that had been planted to protect it from the danger of Peshmerga attacks. Therefore, the beginning of the work consisted of removing the mines, and for this, several Peshmerga experienced in mine removal performed the task. After removing two rows of mines around the outpost, the Peshmerga returned to their headquarters before dawn. Although it was raining heavily that night, the Peshmerga did not care and carried out the work successfully and informed their superiors about it (Murad, 2007, 138).
After discussing the plan to carry out the attack with the Zakho district committee, they were of the opinion that it was an important task and to hurry in implementing it. Therefore, the following night, 9 to 10 February 1987 at (10) o'clock at night, the Peshmerga force approached the outpost. Together, at the same time, they showered the outpost with gunfire for 15 minutes with RPGs and their handguns. They turned that place into fire for the soldiers inside the outpost, and in a short time, they were able to pass through the barbed wire of the outpost and climb over the walls and barriers and enter the military base. At this time, the surrounding outposts and the (38) division became aware of the situation and exerted pressure on the Peshmerga force from all sides with heavy and light weapons. As a result, in that battle and clash, two Peshmerga of the Zakho district committee named Ismail Sivo and Khalil Shino were martyred, and four other Peshmerga were wounded.
After the Peshmerga's success in hitting their target and delivering the message of the revolution's continuity to the enemies, they withdrew and reached the village of Cham Bahivi by morning, and later they transferred the martyrs to the village of Pirakaw and they were buried there.
After a few days, the Iraqi Army launched a widespread attack on the area with the support of heavy weapons such as long-range artillery and warplanes, but the Peshmerga force stopped them and strongly repelled them. After a strong defense, they did not let them advance to occupy the area and defeated their attack.
Sources:1- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Four, 1975- 1990 Gulan Revolution, Part Two, First Edition, Ruxana Printing House, 2021.
2- Murad, Muhammad, Khabata Chia, Memories and Stories of the Gulan Revolution between the years (176-1989), Kurdistan Printing House – Zakho, 2007.
3- Muhammad, Karwan Jawhar, Idris Barzani (1944-1987) Life and Political and Military Role in the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Hivi Printing House, Erbil – 2019.
4- Shimal Zebari, Some Hidden Truths in the Gulan Revolution, First Edition, Rojhalat Printing House, Erbil – 2015.