In the Year 1965, the areas of the Kurdish revolution faced a series of battles and epics by the Iraqi Army in order to suppress the voice of the revolution in all these areas and thwart its activity. However, in many of these battles and the Peshmerga campaign against the attacks on several places, they witnessed great success. Several areas of Kurdistan fell under the control of the revolution, such as Qaladiza, Chwarta, Khoshnawti, Mount Sefin, Qardagh, Garmian, Kalar, and Warmawa.

The Erbil plain, or specifically the village of Bestana, was one of the areas attacked by the army. Bestana is a beautiful village in the Erbil plain in the Qushtapa area, about 30 km east of Erbil. Because it was an important area for the revolution and close to Erbil, Altun Kupri (Perde), Qushtapa, and Taqtaq, the Iraqi Army could easily attack it from there. The Peshmerga forces could easily send their units to these cities and towns to carry out fedayeen activities and return to their places.

It is clear that the government intended to move the bases and headquarters of the Peshmerga away from these areas in the Erbil plain to eliminate the threat to the oil wells in Kirkuk, as the oil wells were often attacked by the Peshmerga. On the other hand, it wanted to limit the activities of the Peshmerga in Erbil, Koya, and other places. For these reasons, in the autumn of the Year 1965, the government launched a wide-scale attack, consisting of the army and agents (Jash) supported by tanks, long-range artillery, and warplanes, on the bases and headquarters of the Peshmerga in Bestana, Koya, and Erbil. This is also called the Five-Pronged Attack.

The Iraqi Army and the agents launched the attack from five directions: one force from Qushtapa to Bestana, another force from the Kumsapan port, another force from the Taqtaq and Shwan area, the fourth force from Erbil to Daratu to Bestana, and the fifth force from the village of Qashq to Bestana. It also included Koya towards the village of Dekla and the small Talabani. This included a wide area in the Erbil plain, and the Iraqi Army's attacks on the bases and headquarters of the Peshmerga from several directions in the Erbil plain lasted for a month.

The attack began with heavy shelling on the Peshmerga positions, and they formed the artillery battalion in Erbil, Darband Kumsapan, and Qashqa. The government air forces also bombed the Peshmerga headquarters and positions from morning until evening with the aim of controlling all areas under Peshmerga control in a very short time. They vacate their positions and the vast plain returns to the control of the government army.

But the Peshmerga forces received news of a large-scale attack on their positions in the area before the attack began, so they made all preparations to confront the massive force of the Iraqi Army. One of the preparations was to move all the wounded or sick Peshmerga who could not fight to other areas of the revolution that were not at risk of a government attack so that they would not become a burden on the Peshmerga during the fighting. Or in any undesirable situation, especially in the event of defeat, they would not fall into the hands of the enemy.

About 200 Peshmerga sacrificed their lives in this battle and set up defensive positions. They also reaffirmed their promise to remain with each other and with their land and their Kurdish beliefs. Led by (Faris Bawa, Ahmed Haji Ali, Qadir Aziz, and Aso Dizeyi, Sayed Kaka). When the fighting began, the Peshmerga resisted the Iraqi Army forces and its fighters in a way that prevented the Iraqi Army from reaching their bases and positions for a month. This was a shock to the Iraqi Army forces, which could not, with all their military and logistical capabilities, weapons, and ammunition, carry out what they had planned.

After a month of attacks on the Peshmerga positions, the Iraqi Army failed to hit its target and defeat the Peshmerga, after heavy losses that included the killing of dozens of soldiers and the destruction of several military vehicles. This forced it to retreat with its forces, and they began to move and leave the area.

After the end of the Iraqi Army's attack on the Peshmerga forces, there were dead and wounded, including the martyrdom of (6) Peshmerga and the injury of (14) others, and the burning of more than (20) villages by the agents (Jash). About (50) civilians were martyred and wounded, including women and children, as a result of air raids and shelling, but this did not affect the morale of the Peshmerga and did not make them abandon the fedayeen activities. Soon, several Peshmerga units entered Erbil and attacked several government military institutions, to show the government that the Peshmerga had not lost its morale and the Peshmerga forces were continuing their fedayeen operations on one hand. And to spread reassurance among the people of Erbil that these government attacks would not have a negative impact on the strength and courage of the Peshmerga on the other hand.

Sources:

  • Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part One, Aylul Revolution 1961-1975, First Edition 2004.

  • Ari Karim, Several Living Pages from the Aylul Revolution, Khabat Press, Duhok 1999.

  • Khurshid Shira, Struggle and Blood, Memoirs of the Years of Peshmerga Struggle, Third Edition, Erbil, 2015.

  • Ibrahim Jalal, Southern Kurdistan and the Aylul Revolution, Building and Collapse, 1961-1975, Fourth Edition, 2021.

  • Sayed Kaka, Memoirs of a Peshmerga, Ministry of Culture Press, First Edition, 1997.

  • Abdullah Rahman Mullahzada, The Structure of the Aylul Revolution, Second Edition, Duhok.