The establishment of Zakho Force dates back to the time when Mustafa Barzani and 400 Peshmerga arrived in the Badinan region from the Barzan region; the arrival of Barzani and his force to the region was an important beginning and a historical turning point for the area, because a vast area was liberated from the control of the Iraq army and fell under the control of the revolution and became a liberated area, and that was the beginning of the establishment and formation of the Zakho Force.

In May of the year 1962, after a large part of the villages of the Badinan region fell under the authority of the revolution, except for the district and sub-district centers which remained under the authority of the Iraq government, people joined the revolution in droves and came to join the Peshmerga forces. At the beginning of the start of the revolution, the Peshmerga forces were not organized; in order to reorganize the Peshmerga forces into a unified form, so that it would have the appearance of an army, upon the recommendation and decision of Mulla Mustafa Barzani, the leader of the revolution, an attempt was made to organize the administration and military in the Badinan region. For every region and area, a commander was appointed, among them Issa Siwar as the commander of the Zakho region, Ali Khalil as the commander of the Duhok region, Hasso Mirxan Dolemeri as the commander of the Sheikhan region, Muhammad-Amin Mirxan as the commander of the strike forces, and Asaad Khoshawi was the general commander of the region. Several Peshmerga units were formed and organized under the names of columns, branches, companies, platoons, and platoon commanders, and similar to the Iraq army system, forces, battalions, companies, and platoons were designated for the Peshmerga forces.

Zakho Force was one of the forces of the Aylul Revolution that covered a wide geographical area. After appointing Issa Siwar as the commander of the Zakho region, he went towards the region with 60 Peshmerga. The headquarters of the force was established in the village of Ermishte and later in the village of Bezhe. After settling in the region, Issa Siwar established a number of columns, and each column included 60 to 100 Peshmerga, and each column was in a different area, such as the columns of Ali Ali Seyfeddin, Hashim Merozi, Nayif Ahmed Mzhdin, Ali Halo, Arif Darwish, Ali Rasho, Musa Behravi, Farhan Kashani Guli, Mulla Hassan Haji Sadiq Guli, Salman Khurshid, Abdulrahman Dino, Seyid Abush Abdi Ghazala, Yasin Rashid Betasi, Sharif Musa Mchuli, and Abush Mustafa. These columns were in the form of tribal detachments, and this organization remained this way until the year 1964. Between the years (1961-1963), the Peshmerga forces had no system for their salaries, and most of them were volunteer Peshmerga, and most of the expenses of the Peshmerga were borne by the people of the region.

In March of the year 1962, due to the lack of weapons, the commander of this force began collecting weapons in that area. As a result, 75 pieces of weapons were presented by the people, and the Peshmerga forces began attacking two military points on Mount Bekhire, where a point of 17 police were stationed; the first point was in Kelfrine and the second point overlooked the villages of Turkzha. This military activity was the first step for starting other battles in this area.

After the coup of the 8 of February of the year 1963 and the arrival of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power and the formation of the new Iraq government, which was not in the interest of the Kurds and stood against solving the Kurdish issue and made excuses for not solving the Kurdish issue, after the negotiations between the leadership of the revolution and the Iraq government, the Situation in Kurdistan once again headed towards the worse and the Iraq government started the war again. In the attack of the Iraq government on Mount Matin in the year 1963, the First Army and the Zakho Force with 300 reserve Peshmerga led by Issa Siwar were able to expel the government forces from Mount Matin. After the agreement of the 10 of February of the year 1964 between the leadership of the revolution and the Iraq government and the cessation of the war, the leadership of the revolution began political and military reorganization. It formed the First Army in Badinan led by Asaad Khoshawi, the Second Army in Erbil led by Rashid Sindi, and the Third Army in Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk led by Aziz Akreyi. The First Army in Badinan consisted of Zakho Force led by Issa Siwar, the Duhok Force led by Ali Khalil, and the Sheikhan and Akre Force led by Hasso Mirxan Dolemeri.

After the agreement of the 11 of March of the year 1970, the military organization underwent changes, where four border guard battalions were formed within the border of the First Army and included 2000 Peshmerga. The 3 battalion of Amedi was led by Salim Asaad, the 4 battalion of Zakho was led by Issa Siwar, the 8 battalion of Duhok was led by Ali Khalil, and the 9 battalion of Sheikhan was led by Hasso Mirxan Dolemeri. Each battalion consisted of 500 Peshmerga. After the reignition of the war in the year 1974, the border guard battalions were dissolved and the First Army was formed again as before with some changes.

Structure of the Zakho Force:

Zakho Force which was affiliated with the First Army, was established in the year 1964 and its base in the years (1962-1965) was in the village of Bezhe and later in the village of Ermisht and Ashe. It also had a hospital, which was in the village of Ermishte. This force consisted of five battalions:

1. Battalion One, led by Ali Halo, consisted of three branches supervised by Ali Rasho Jundi, Omar Ali Halo, and Ahmed Tayar Ismail, and was stationed in the Sindia region and the village of Behrava.

2. Battalion Two, led by Seyid Abush Slivanei and his deputy Ramazan Salih, consisted of three branches supervised by Ismail Haji Badri, Farhan Abdullah Ali, and Mulla Taha Haji Tahir, and was stationed in the Slivaneiya region in the village of Bavia.

3. Battalion Three, led by Ali Ali Sevedin and his deputy Boze Ahmed Ali, consisted of three branches supervised by Saeed Haji Mahmoud Boseli, Smo Salih Sindi, and Ramazan Mirza Ibrahim Guli, and was stationed in the villages of Berzibare.

4. The Fourth Battalion, commanded by Abdulqadir Hussein Muhammad, consisted of three companies under the supervision of Hussein Abdulkarim Rasho, Musa Ahmed Bashar, and Ahmed Sme Ahmed.

5. The Fifth Battalion, commanded by Ahmed Abdullah Shana and his deputy Ali Taha Qumri, consisted of four companies under the supervision of Shawkat Brindar Qumri, Ramazan Rashid Mustafa, Sleman Mahmud Ibrahim, and Numan Haji Marwan Taha.

Each battalion of this force was divided into three or four companies, and a company consisted of three platoons. With each battalion, there was a support platoon such as artillery, mines, RPGs, and DShKs, and each battalion had a chemical squad that consisted of 5 to 6 people.

The engineering platoon, the commander of the engineering company affiliated with this force, was commanded by Muhammad Khalid Busali and his assistant Ahmed Ramu. The chemical platoon within the border of this force was commanded by Abdulkarim Osman Eskender and his assistant Sayid Hamid Mustafa; they had two chemical squads commanded by Abdulaziz Khayat and Sleman Arif Chaftki.

In the border of Zakho Force there were three types of artillery: Ayoub Omar was the head of the 120 mm artillery, Salih Amin Salih was the head of the 82 mm artillery, and Salih Tayar was the head of the 62 mm artillery. Also, Ahmed Yusuf Qasim was the head of the radio, and his assistants were Sergeant Salih and Sleman Muhammad Ali, affiliated with Zakho Force .

After the March 11 agreement of the year 1970, the forces of the revolution underwent changes and, under the supervision of the government of Iraq, were turned into border guard battalions, Zakho Force was organized under the name of the Fourth Border Guard Battalion, commanded by Isa Suwar with the rank of Colonel. The deputy of this battalion was Ramazan Isa, and his assistant was Bahjat Amidi. This battalion included 500 Peshmerga, and its base was in Tilkabare. The sub-companies of the border guard battalion consisted of Bozi Ahmed Mirza and Mullah Taha (Chief of Unit Sergeants), Ali Ali Ziwki, Sergeant Darwish, Sayid Abush Abdi Ghazala, and Said Halo. After the year 1974, when the war between the revolution leadership and the government of Iraq occurred, the decision to dissolve the border guard battalions was made by the Iraqi government and Zakho Force was reorganized as before until the collapse of the year 1975, when Isa Suwar was the force commander, and Sayid Abush Abdi Ghazala, Sergeant Darwish, Ali Ali Ziwki, and Haji Qado Gravi were battalion commanders. At the same time, the base of Zakho Force was moved from Armashti to the Lifi region.

Wars and activities of the Zakho Force: 

1. The wars of the year 1962: the capture of the army company in Asihe, the Battle of Gali Zakho, the Battle of Batifa, the Ain Zala activity, the Battle of Parave, Baniya Nergzie.

2. The year 1963: the Battle of Mount Matin, Gali Zakho, the Slivaniya Plain.

3. The year 1965: the Battle of the Lifi Plain.

4. The year 1967: the Battle of Baniya Nergzie.

5. The wars of the year (1974-1975) such as the Battle of the Slivaniya Plain, Kelfrin, Mount Bekhire, Baviya, and Gali Zakho.

Sources:
  1. Masoud Barzani, The Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part One, pp. (67-68), (92-95) (158-160), 187.
  2. Rozhin Chalabi Munir, Zakho 14 of July 1958-6 of March 1975, (Zakho Center for Kurdish Studies, 2018 AD), pp. 145, 148, 149, 154, 158, 159, 165, 168, (209-211), (252-253), (309-311).
  3.  Ari Faruq Nanakali, The Institutions of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the September Revolution between the years 1961-1975, p. 144.
  4. Abdullah Rahman Malazada, The Form of the Military Structure of the Great September Revolution in the year 1965-1975), pp. (15-)17, p. 25.
  5.  Staff Colonel Sangar Ibrahim Khoshnaw, Military Events of the September Revolution 1970-1975, (Erbil, Danishfar Printing House, 2022 AD), p. (67-68).
  6. Wasfi Hassan, The Beginning of the September Revolution in the Bahdinan Region 1961-1963, (Duhok, Khani Printing House, 2012 AD), pp. 65, 80.