After the collapse of the Aylul Revolution , the Ba'ath regime put all its capabilities and efforts into preventing the resurgence of the revolution and limiting the activities of the Peshmerga. To that end, it adopted several methods such as deploying the army in Kurdistan, arming those Kurds who were its mercenaries, searching for Peshmerga, and many other stances. To bury that dream of the Ba'ath, the leadership of the revolution and the Peshmerga forces during the era of the Gulan Revolution saw itself more in partisan confrontation, where Peshmerga forces in different areas, for whatever reason or objective, would approach the military and security bases and headquarters of the Ba'ath regime, launch an attack on them within a specified period, carry out their activities, and then leave the location. With this action, the government's military and security agencies would be subjected to confusion and harassment for a period of time.
There were many times when, for the preparation and execution of a Peshmerga activity and to deal a major blow to military bases and headquarters, a group of Peshmerga would first secretly descend into the depths of the Ba'ath regime's authority to identify the location for carrying out the activity, then return, plan the attack, and carry out their activity. Such was the case when the Ranjdaran organization in May 1985 formed a five-person Peshmerga group under the supervision of Ismail Sevo and went to the Mchuliya area in Sare Snate to identify a suitable location to carry out a Peshmerga activity, because during the Gulan Revolution, the Peshmerga force was organized within the framework of party organization such as branches, areas, and organizations. After a day and night passed, the Peshmerga group returned and identified Sare Snate, which was the headquarters of an Iraqi Army military company, as the first step in the plan to carry out the activity.
After receiving the information, the aforementioned organization, under the command of Muhammad Murad, met with the Peshmerga, informed them of the plan to carry out the activity, then began preparations and set off toward the target location. During 12 hours of travel in secret and without any military or intelligence agency of the Ba'ath regime knowing, they reached Sare Snate near the headquarters of the Iraqi Army military company. As the darkness of night covered the ground, the time began for the Peshmerga to implement what they had planned, which was the second part of the activity: assigning several Peshmerga experts in removing mines that had been laid around the guard post, so they could undertake the removal and neutralization of the mines to open a path for the Peshmerga to reach the military guard post without harm. After more than an hour, they successfully completed their work and returned to their commander and companions.
The third part of the activity was dividing the Peshmerga force into several groups or units, with each group launching an attack on the military headquarters from a point. The first group consisted of seven Peshmerga under the supervision of Muhammad Murad to attack from the east side, the second group consisted of five Peshmerga under the supervision of Ismail Sevo to attack from the upper part, and the third group consisted of seven Peshmerga with Abdulkarim Farhan, for whom the lower part was designated, to approach the guard post and start the attack at the same time. Each Peshmerga group was given one RPG and five shells along with the light weapons they carried. At 11:30, they reached the locations designated for them.
The start of the attack began in this way: the first RPG shell was fired by the Peshmerga of the eastern wing at the guard post, which destroyed part of the building's wall. Then, from both the upper and lower wings, the Peshmerga force began the attack. From three sides, the Peshmerga stormed the guard post, and with grenades and the weapons in their hands, an intense direct battle continued for half an hour. The Peshmerga were able to seize the guard post in a short time and kill a number of soldiers. In return, the Peshmerga's losses consisted of 10 wounded. After they carried out their work and achieved success in the activity, they decided to retreat and returned to their headquarters in Haftanin. For the treatment and care of the wounded, a doctor and medicine were provided by the Zakho area committee.
In that activity, the Peshmerga's gains consisted of capturing an 82mm mortar and another 60mm mortar along with 20 boxes of shells for both types, one BKC machine gun along with 5 boxes of shells of the same type, 7 pieces of small Kalashnikov-type weapons along with a large number of bullets, 4 RPGs and 15 shells, a Tariq-type pistol, and a large amount of grenades and military equipment were seized and became gains for the revolution.
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- Muhammad Murad, Khabata Chia, Memories and Events of the Gulan Revolution between the years (1976-1989), Kurdistan Printing House – Zakho, 2007.
3- Ghazi Adil Gardi, A Peshmerga in the Service of the Barzani Path, Haji Birokhi, Volume Two, Second Edition, Turkey - 2021.