The Iraqi government had been using pretexts and attempting to find ways for malicious intentions since mid-December 1964, and arresting and torturing people in the towns and cities of Kurdistan under the pretext of inciting chaos... At the same time, there was movement of the army, and in early 1965 relations between the leadership of the Kurdish revolution and the government began to complicate and deteriorate, and even developments indicate that Abdulsalam Arif had reneged on the ceasefire terms signed in February 1964 and was trying to find a pretext to resume the war, and to confirm this, one can refer to the words of a foreign journalist who visited Kurdistan a month after the ceasefire, where he said: "I did not see anything but ruin and destruction" and added, "All the villages located along the main roads in Sulaymaniyah were bombed and burned with napalm bombs until they turned into dust and ashes, and within five months 3000 villages were destroyed."
The Kurdistan Democratic Party called for a general strike in Kurdistan on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the ceasefire, although the strike achieved great success in many Kurdish cities and towns, and in late March 1965 the Iraqi Army imposed war again on Kurdistan, believing that the political and military fragmentation of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Kurdistan revolution was the right time to impose a war that would increase their chances of victory.
The Iraqi government planned to take Mount Sefin out of the hands of the Peshmerga forces, because by seizing the mountain, it would eliminate the threat it faced on the main Erbil-Rawandiz road, where its forces were always falling into ambushes by the Peshmerga forces, and on the other hand, it would be possible to remove the Peshmerga forces from the Erbil plain, where the population played an effective role in providing food and supplies to the Peshmerga, and it must be said that the road between Erbil-Shaqlawa extends to Rawandiz, which is the main road for the Spilik camp, the Rawandiz garrison, and dozens of police stations, which should be kept away from dangers. In order to eliminate these threats, the Iraqi Army made full preparations to attack the mountain and strike its targets, and the Iraqi Army mobilized a large number of military units from the Second Division in the area, including the First Brigade, the 14 Brigade, the 15 Brigade, and the two 20, 9 brigades. It is interesting to note that the seizure of Mount Sefin and the removal of Peshmerga activities was intentional by government military officials, to the extent that President Abdulsalam Arif himself came to Shaqlawa to visit the battlefronts.
Information was reaching the Peshmerga officials about these military movements of the Iraqi Army through the organizations of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and news also arrived about the arrival of about 30 thousand mercenary gunmen from the Soran and Badinan region, and the Sefin battle was a major battle that covered a large front in the Koya region towards the Gomspan strait and Sefin and the Shaqlawa region towards Mount Hory and Zintir, in contrast, the Kurdistan revolution forces on Mount Sefin consisted of about 1000 Peshmerga from the Sefin force and 300 Peshmerga from the Erbil plain force and the Betwata force,
It is worth noting that some Egyptian combat units stationed around Baghdad were used to participate in the fighting.
Facing this large force of the Iraqi Army, the protection of the area was the responsibility of the Sefin force, as that force consisted of the General Commander of the front Rashid Sindi and the force commander Lieutenant Tahir Ali Wali and its headquarters in the Hiran sub-district, the Third Battalion led by Wahid Kuikha Aziz, the Second Battalion led by Mullah Gharib, the Third Battalion led by Mam Ibrahim Kako, and the Erbil plain battalion was led by Faris Bawe, and all these forces were divided into four axes: the first axis in Ziyarat village, the second axis in Sarmidan, the third axis in Sari Rash, and the fourth axis in Hajaran.
The first attack of the Iraqi Army began on the night of 12-13 April 1965, when it seized Kapki Sur and then for eight consecutive days bombed Mount Sefin from all fronts of the Iraqi Army, their biggest attack on Mount Sefin began on 21 April 1965, on the Gomspan and Ziyarat fronts, and at the same time, the Iraqi Army launched attacks to increase pressure on the front and prevent the Peshmerga forces from reaching Sefin, as it was unable to make progress and used a different range of weapons, ammunition, aircraft, tanks, and armored vehicles, however, it suffered a major failure, which forced the government to reconsider its previous plans, and for this purpose it invented something new by granting a (financial) reward for the seizure of every peak, height, and mountain range, and the price was determined according to the harshness, difficulty, and strategic importance of the location, and for example, the head of the hired mercenaries Zero Herki agreed as a contractor with the government to recapture Mount Sefin from the Peshmerga in exchange for 20 thousand dinars, and in the same battle Said Taha Zebari agreed to seize the Karota peak, the fortified and strategic position on Mount Sefin in exchange for 10000 dinars, and although this government plan affected the prolongation of the battle, in the end, the fate of these two mercenaries was death.
The continuation of attacks and bombing on the positions of the Peshmerga and mercenaries and the change of the Iraqi Army's plans, in contrast, the general situation of the Peshmerga was shocking in terms of weapons, ammunition, human losses, and the poor health condition of the wounded. Also, because of the difficulty of the mountain, it was not easy for the Peshmerga to reach food, ammunition, and medical supplies, which made it difficult to stay and defend the mountain, so the Peshmerga commanders decided to retreat for a while, and the Iraqi Army's losses in the Mount Sefin battles were 154 dead, 348 wounded, and 32 prisoners, and 22 Peshmerga from the Kurdistan revolution forces were martyred and 86 others were wounded.
In general, the Battle of Mount Sefin is important, because it is the longest battle in the history of the Aylul Revolution, which lasted from 12 April to 17 July 1965 which lasted 95 days, where the Iraqi Army used all types of land and air weapons within modern weapons, and the number of Peshmerga in the battlefield was more than 1000, but the number of soldiers and mercenaries reached 40000, and despite the loss of the Kurdistan revolution forces of Mount Sefin because of this unequal battle, reducing the number of casualties and losses or retreating during the war is sometimes considered a victory.
Sources:1- Shwan Muhammad Amin Taha Khoshnaw, Erbil between the years 1963 – 1970, (Salahaddin University Press- Erbil- 2016).
2- Chris Kutschera, The Kurd in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, trans: Hama Karim Arif, Fourth Edition, (Aweer Printing and Publishing House- 2007).
3- Hawkar Karim Hama Sharif, The Aylul Revolution, Salahaddin University Press, (Erbil- 2012).
4- Muhammad Mullah Qadir, Sarbarda – A summary of the memoirs, (Aras Publication- Erbil- 2009).
5- Ismet Cheriff Vanly, Kurdistan of Iraq a National Identity (A study in the 1961 revolution), trans: Suad Muhammad Khadr, Shvan Press, Sulaymaniyah, 2012.
6- Khurshid Shera, Struggle and Blood, Third Edition, Haji Hashim Press, Erbil, 2015.