The Baathists succeeded in a military coup against Abd al-Karim Qasim and his government in February 1963 and took control of Iraq. The leadership of the Kurdish revolution expressed their support for the new government and hoped that they would be willing to resolve the Kurdish issue in a peaceful and fair manner. Although the Baathists did not initially have the strength to fight the Kurdish revolution, they announced a ceasefire and negotiations began between them.
Naturally, the negotiations did not last long because the government began preparing and was able to gather itself and reorganize its forces within 3 to 4 months. Then it began to threaten to suppress the Kurdish revolution and rejected the negotiations with the leaders of the revolution. In June 1963, the fighting, attacks, and assaults on the areas of the revolution began again, in all those areas that were under the control of the Peshmerga forces of the Aylul Revolution had been.
From the very first day of the war, the Iraqi Army began moving from Mosul towards Zakho and other areas of Badinan, from Kirkuk towards the areas of the Koya plain, Chamchamal, Sulaymaniyah, Ranya, and Qaladiza, from another front from Sulaymaniyah towards Qaradagh and Garmian, and also from Baghdad towards Khanaqin, Kifri, Kalar, Darbandikhan, and Sharazur. The plan of the Iraqi government this time was to establish battlefronts on several axes to fragment the Peshmerga forces and the areas under the control of the revolution. In its attacks and assaults, it burned every village, mountain, plain, and valley of Kurdistan that lay in its path, especially since the attack was in the summer, the season of harvesting, grain, threshing floors, and agricultural produce, in order to destroy the Peshmerga's supplies, starve the people of Kurdistan, and cut off the Peshmerga's sources of life.
The government of Iraq's attack on Kurdistan this time was different from other attacks due to the agreement it had made with the Syrian government to help it suppress the Kurdish revolution, given that at that time the Baath had also taken power in the country of Syria. For this, a Syrian state force called the (Yarmouk) force, commanded by Colonel Fahd al-Shaer, crossed the border of the country of Iraq and supported the Iraqi Army in attacking the Peshmerga forces.
On November 1, 1963, the Iraqi Army, with two brigades, the Third and the Fifth, commanded by Colonel Saeed Hammo, supported by a tank battalion, a Syrian military force, and mercenary gunmen (Jash), launched a widespread attack on the Cham-i Rezan area. The attack covered the Shwan and Sheikh Bizeni area up to the Aghjalar sub-district until it reached Cham-i Rezan. The government forces besieged several locations such as Tasluja, Askar village, Qala Khalifan, up to near Dukan to Cham-i Rezan.
The Rizgari Peshmerga force, which was tasked with defending that area, resisted the government's attack and managed to inflict heavy losses on it, but the government forces were persistent in their attacks and assaults. After a week, they managed to take control of Cham-i Rezan. The Peshmerga withdrew its forces to the Surdash, Pira Magrun, and Jafayati valley areas due to the disparity in strength and weapons, especially the lack of anti-tank weapons. Despite that, they continued in guerrilla warfare to strike at outposts, set ambushes on main roads, and deal blows to the government forces.
After taking Cham-i Rezan, the government wanted to cut off and blockade the Qaradagh, Garmian, Kifri, Kalar, and Darbandikhan areas to destroy that Peshmerga force once and for all, so it began a military campaign from Bazian, Sulaymaniyah, and Kirkuk. The Peshmerga forces of that area were divided into three parts. One part went to the rugged areas of Sartka, Bamo, and Darband-i Belula and kept the government forces busy for more than two months, reducing the burden of the war on other areas. The second part carried out two major operations in Zambur and the upper east of the city of Kirkuk by striking oil wells.
The third part began striking and pursuing the government force that had gone to attack and take the town of Qaradagh. In this battle, a large number of soldiers and officers of the Iraqi Army, the Syrian Yarmouk Army, and Arab Jash who had come to fight the Kurds wearing white keffiyehs and agals were killed and wounded.
This had a great impact on weakening the government forces to the point that they lost the ability to attack and problems arose between them and the Syrian Yarmouk force. To escape from this crisis that it had fallen into and the weakness it was suffering from, it was forced at the end of 1963 to resort to negotiations. Thus, at the beginning of 1964, it contacted the Political Bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party through a Kurdish officer named Karim Qarani. On January 31, 1964, Barzani, the leader of the revolution, met with the Governor of Sulaymaniyah, Brigadier General Abdul-Razzaq Sayyid Mahmoud, in Ranya. After several sessions, a ceasefire was announced.
Sources:1- Khoshawi Ali Kanyelnji, Memoirs of Aziz Qazi Surchi, Daneshfar Printing House, Erbil, 2023.
2- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part One, Aylul Revolution 1961-1975, First Edition 2004.
3- Ibrahim Jalal, Southern Kurdistan and the Aylul Revolution Foundation and Collapse 1961- 1975, Fourth Edition, 2021.
4- Shawkat Mullah Ismail Hassan, Days in the History of the Aylul Revolution, Ministry of Education Printing House, Erbil, 2007.
5- Hozhin Masoud Sarni, The Aylul Revolution in the Bahdinan Region 1061- 1975, First Edition, 2018.
6- Ari Karim, Several Living Pages in the Aylul Revolution, Khabat Printing House, Duhok 1999.