In March 1987,
Ali Hassan al-Majid was appointed
secretary-general of the Ba'ath Party's Northern Bureau, which included
Iraqi Kurdistan.
Military operations and chemical attacks Anfal, officially conducted in 1988, had eight phases (Anfal 1–Anfal 8) altogether, seven of which targeted areas controlled by the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The
Kurdish Democratic Party-controlled areas in the northwest
Iraqi Kurdistan, were the target of the Final Anfal operation in late August and early September 1988.
Anfal 1 The first Anfal stage was conducted between 23 February and 18 March 1988. It started with
artillery and
air strikes in the early hours of 23 February 1988. Then, several hours later, there were attacks at the
Jafali Valley headquarters of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan near the Iranian border, and the command centers in Sargallu and Bargallu. There was heavy resistance by the
Peshmerga. The battles were conducted in a theater around 1,154 square kilometres (445 sq. mi.). The villages of Gwezeela, Chalawi, Haladin and Yakhsamar were attacked with poison gas. During mid March, the PUK, in an alliance with Iranian troops and other Kurdish factions, captured Halabja. This led to the
poison gas attack on Halabja on 16 March 1988, during which several thousand Kurdish people were killed, most of them civilians.
Anfal 2 During the second Anfal from 22 March and 2 April 1988, the Qara Dagh region, including Bazian and Darbandikhan, was targeted in the
Suleimanya governorate. Again several villages were attacked with poison gas. Villages attacked with poisonous gas were Safaran, Sewsenan, Belekjar, Serko and Meyoo. The attacks began on 22 March after
Newruz, surprising the Peshmerga. Although of shorter duration, Peshmerga suffered more severe casualties in this attack than the first Anfal.
Anfal 4 Anfal 4 took place between 3–8 May 1988 in the valley of the
Little Zab, which forms the border of the provinces of
Erbil and
Kirkuk. The morale of the Iraqi army was on the rise due to the capture of the
Faw Peninsula on the 17–18 April 1988 from Iran in the
Iran–Iraq War. Major poisonous gas attacks were perpetrated in Askar and Goptapa. Again it was announced an amnesty was issued, which turned out to be false. Many of the ones who surrendered were arrested. Men were separated from the women.
Anfal 5, 6 and 7 In these three consecutive attacks between 15 May and 16 August 1988, the valleys of
Rawandiz and Shaqlawa were targeted, and the attacks had different successes. The Anfal 5 failed completely; therefore, two more attacks were necessary to gain Iraqi government control over the valleys. The Peshmerga commander of the region,
Kosrat Abdullah, was well prepared for a long siege with stores of ammunition and food. He also reached an agreement with the Kurdish collaborators of the Iraqi Army so that the civilians could flee. Hiran, Balisan, Smaquli, Malakan, Shek Wasan, Ware, Seran and Kaniba were attacked with poisonous gas. After the Anfal 7 attack, the valleys were under the control of the Iraqi government.
Anfal 8 The last Anfal was aimed at the region controlled by the
KDP named Badinan and took place from 25 August to 6 September 1988. In this campaign, the villages of Wirmeli, Barkavreh, Bilejane, Glenaska, Zewa Shkan, Tuka and Ikmala were targeted with chemical attacks. After tens of thousands of Kurds fled to Turkey, the Iraqi Army blocked the route to Turkey on 26 August 1988. The population who did not manage to flee was arrested, and the men were separated from the women and children. The men were executed, and the women and children were brought to camps.
Detention camps Detention camps were established to accommodate thousands of prisoners. Dibs was a detention camp for women and children and located near an army training facility for the Iraqi commando forces. From Dibs, groups of detainees were transferred to
Nugra Salman in a
depression in the desert about 120 km southwest of
Samawah, in the
Muthanna Governorate. Nugra Salman held an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 prisoners during the Anfal campaign.
Arabization Arabization, another major element of al-Anfal, was a tactic used by Saddam Hussein's regime to drive pro-insurgent populations out of their homes in villages and cities like
Kirkuk, which are in the valuable
oil field areas, and relocate them in the southern parts of Iraq. The campaign used heavy
population redistribution, most notably in Kirkuk, the results of which now plague negotiations between Iraq's
Shi'a United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish
Kurdistani Alliance. Saddam's Ba'athist regime built several public housing facilities in Kirkuk as part of his "Arabisation", shifting poor
Arabs from Iraq's southern regions to Kirkuk with the lure of inexpensive housing. Another part of the Arabisation campaign was the census of October 1987. Citizens who failed to turn up for the October 1987 census were no longer recognized as Iraqi citizens. Most of the Kurdish population who learned that a census was taking place did not take part in the census. ==Death toll==