The Ba'athist government, in order to gain dominance and access to all the various regions of Kurdistan and to silence the voice of the revolution, was constantly launching attacks and raids on the areas where the revolution was dominant. This was because the groups and squads of the Peshmerga forces were directed from those areas to carry out guerrilla activities and strike strong blows against the government's military and armed forces. As a result, the government forces suffered heavy human and material losses and psychological collapse, which, due to fear and terror, led them in many places to be unable to even protect their own military bases and outposts. Therefore, they confronted the Peshmerga forces in every way possible to protect their authority and gains.
On April 5, 1987, the Ba'athist military and armed forces, supported by tanks, artillery, warplanes, and two large bulldozers, launched a widespread attack on the Sindi area to take control of the region, destroy and ruin the villages, and remove the threats of the Peshmerga forces, who were putting great pressure on the government forces and had become a source of great fear and anxiety. The attack was carried out from several axes, including: the Khwake and Levo village axis, the Navkendala, Zewke, and Mergesora village axes, and the Sere Selavke village axis.
When the news of the government's attack on the area reached the leadership of the revolution in Badinan, a prepared Peshmerga force was immediately sent to the area to repel and defeat the government forces' attack. This force consisted of the forces belonging to the Duhok District Committee led by Ali Qadir, the Renjberan (Laborers) organization of the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Muhammad Murad, and a force of the Iraqi Communist Party. The Peshmerga forces took up positions in the locations assigned to them and monitored the situation. They saw that the government forces were sparing nothing in the places they reached; in the villages of Levo, Mergesora, Zewke, Sere Selavka, and Navkendala, they set fire to the village houses and began destruction and devastation. The Peshmerga force, which in no way could be compared in terms of numbers and weapons to the large and massive Iraqi force equipped with weapons, ammunition, tanks, artillery, and aircraft, resisted them, and a fierce battle began.
The residents of the villages that were subjected to the Iraqi Army's attack, due to the destruction, shelling, and bombing by the government forces, abandoned their villages to protect their lives. The government's attacks continued from the ground and the air. The Peshmerga forces, with all their might, used the light weapons they had and the ammunition they possessed, constantly rationing it so it would not run out. Furthermore, hunger, thirst, and the lack of food and supplies confronted them on all battle axes, and they faced them. The persistence of the Peshmerga's resistance, as a strong barrier, changed the situation of the battle from defense to offense after a Peshmerga force from the Farmers' Organization arrived at the battlefront to support them. They launched a counter-attack on the advances of the government forces and tightened the siege on them.
The Peshmerga attacks continued until three o'clock in the afternoon in the villages of Levo, Zewke, and Mergesora, and they were able to put great pressure on the government forces until they drove them out of all three villages and pursued them to the main Zakho – Batifa road. The result of this government attack on the Sindi area ended in a major defeat for their military and armed forces, in addition to many killed and wounded and the capture of three Jash. The Peshmerga's losses consisted of the martyrdom of one Peshmerga and the wounding of another, in addition to the burning and destruction of citizens' orchards and gardens as a result of the intense shelling and bombing by warplanes.
After the end of the battle, Masoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdish liberation movement, invited the head of the Renjberan organization and the organization's cadre, Muhammad Murad, and Abdulaziz Ismail to the Nerwa and Rekan area. He expressed his gratitude and appreciation for their resistance and success in defeating the attack of the Iraqi army and armed forces, and he also presented them with a gift, which was a PKC machine gun.
Sources:1- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Four, 1975- 1990 Gulan Revolution, Part Two, First Edition, (Ruxana Printing House - 2021).
2- Muhammad Murad, Xebata Çiya (Mountain Struggle), Memories and Events of the Gulan Revolution between the years (176-1989), (Kurdistan Printing House – Zakho - 2007).