After the defeat of the September Revolution, the Peshmerga and the military leaders of the revolution migrated to Iran, but this never meant the end of the struggle for the freedom and independence of Kurdistan, and once again in exile, preparations for the revival of the revolution began anew. In August 1979, the Peshmerga forces returned to Behdinan to revive the Party's organizations. Upon their return, their task was to patrol the villages to revive the secret organization and carry out Peshmerga activities; as is evident, the Peshmerga Forces were organized within the framework of the Party's organization as branches, districts, and organizations.

In May 1981, a Peshmerga force from the two organizations of Martyr Shahyaz Salih and Martyr Mehmud Yusuf, which were affiliated with the Zakho District Committee, were on patrol (movement) in the villages of the Batifa area to carry out some revolutionary tasks. On the 25th of the month, they reached the village of Minine. At night, a part of the Peshmerga forces went to the village of Xezava to buy food and daily necessities. That village was close to the surveillance of the Ba'ath regime's military forces, so the Peshmerga force was very cautious and divided into three groups so that they could protect themselves if the regime's military forces confronted them. With this intention, one group went to a place called Chem Jihur, the second group went to another place called Feramok, and the third group went to the village shop to buy food and necessities. The Peshmerga of the third group spread out around the shop and some of them were buying necessities.

At this time, they saw that they had been surrounded by a force of the Iraqi army, so they quickly informed each other of the situation, and in a short time, the soldiers of the Iraqi army fired bullets at the Peshmerga, and a fierce battle broke out between them. The soldiers attacked the Peshmerga who had been surrounded in the shop; nearly four or five soldiers fell before the barrels of the Peshmerga's rifles and all were struck and fell down. Along with the soldiers' gunfire, fire broke out in the citizens' houses. It is clear that the injuries of the soldiers who attacked the shop gave the Peshmerga the opportunity to gather and strengthen their defense, but at this time, all the forces that had surrounded the village attacked the Peshmerga. At the same time, other military forces from the Batifa Brigade and the Plain of the Mountain arrived at the scene of the incident to support their forces.

When the Peshmerga forces saw that the situation was such that there was a large force in the village and another force was coming to their aid, they thought of breaking the siege and saving themselves. At this time, they passed over the roofs of the houses and through the streets of the village and reached their other comrades who had previously been stationed in two places. Later, they all escaped together and returned to their place without any losses.

Source:

  1. Masoud Barzani: Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume 4, 1975-1990 Gulan Revolution, Part 2, First Edition, Ruksana Printing House, 2021.

  2. Mihemed Mirad: Mountain Struggle, memories and stories of the Gulan Revolution between the years (1976-1989), Kurdistan Printing House – Zakho, 2007.

  3. Xazi Adil Gerdi: A Peshmerga in the service of the Barzani Path Heci Beroxi, Volume 2, 2nd Edition, Turkey-2021.