The Zembîl Firoş battle is another battle between the Kurdistan Peshmerga Forces and the Ba'ath regime army. On March 22, 1980, in the Batîfa area on a main road, Peshmerga forces set an ambush for the Iraqi army forces, as a result of which the army forces fell into the ambush and suffered heavy blows. At this time, another force of the Batîfa Brigade of the Iraqi army also arrived at the scene to support and assist their defeated forces, and with their arrival, a fierce battle broke out between the Peshmerga forces and the army soldiers which lasted for several hours. As a result, the Peshmerga forces defeated the Iraqi army forces and with heavy blows forced them to turn back to their previous positions.

After the defeat of September Revolution in 1975, the Ba'ath regime made all its efforts to prevent the revival of the Kurdish revolution and to limit the activities of the Peshmerga, for this reason, they formed several armed mercenary forces from Kurds who were supporters of it and were their puppets as special units, besides that after the start of the war between Iraq and Iran in September 1980, they opened several light battalions and armed thousands of Kurds, and in that, the whole of Kurdistan was filled with large military forces, Divisions and Brigades, with heavy weapons, tanks, artillery and warplanes [1].

For the revolution as well, after the ninth congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) held in November 1979 in East Kurdistan[2], in light of the congress decisions, preparations were made for the Peshmerga forces to return to Kurdistan in the form of special units, to communicate with the supporters of the revolution and to start organizing the cities and carrying out Peshmerga activities.[3]

On March 22, 1980, a force consisting of 55 Peshmerga, under the command of Elî Qadir, Osman Qasim, Se'do Korkî, and Omer Elî, who were divided into four groups, while they were busy with their Peshmerga duties in Batîfa in the Behdînan region, they received information that Saddam Hussein, the then president of the Iraqi regime, was visiting that area, it seems this was a good opportunity for the Peshmerga forces to carry out an operation at that moment, for that purpose, early in the morning they set an ambush on one of the main roads of the area, at 11:30 AM, 4 military vehicles of the Eva type left and fell into the Peshmerga ambush, with the first shot of the Peshmerga, all 4 military vehicles were destroyed and as a result, many Iraqi soldiers were killed and wounded.[4]

At this time, a military force belonging to the Batîfa Brigade of the Iraqi army arrived at the scene of the conflict from the east of the area to assist the defeated forces, also another military force of the Deşta Çîyê battalion, a force of the Avgeniyê battalion, and the Badr force belonging to the Zaxo brigade also arrived at the battlefield. As a result, a fierce battle broke out between the government forces and the Peshmerga Forces and continued until nightfall, then the state forces were defeated and withdrew to their military units. After the defeat of the Iraqi army, the Peshmerga forces left the scene and headed towards the village of Bêxebarê and then towards the villages of Bilêjanê, Korka, Hişara, and Berê Birîsk and set off, hiding during the day and walking at night until they reached the headquarters of Branch 1.

In this battle, the Iraqi army suffered heavy blows and nearly 120 soldiers and high-ranking officers were killed and wounded. In this battle, 2 Peshmerga named Salih Xîlafteyî and Husên Merûf were martyred whose bodies fell into the hands of the regime's military forces, also 2 Peshmerga were wounded and a civilian named Ehmed Yehya Teyîb was also martyred.[ ]

References:

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

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

  3.  Encyclopedia Board of the Kurdistan Democratic Party: History of the Kurdistan Democratic Party – Congress and Conference (Programs and Internal Rules), Volume 1, First Edition, Rojhelat Printing House, 2021.

  4. Hacî Mîrxan Dolemerî: Searching for Justice, Volume 2, Second Edition, Kurdistan – 2021.