Battle of Jabal Maqlub

Battle of Jabal Maqlub
Part of the Iran–Iraq War
Date April 2–7, 1987 Location Jabal Maqlub, Rawanduz District, northeastern Iraq Result Iraqi victory
Belligerents
Ba'athist Iraq	Iran
Commanders and leaders
IraqGeneral Iyad Futayyih al-Rawi (alleged)	Unknown IRGC Northern Front Commander
Units involved
Republican Guard 1st Army Corps Army Aviation Command	Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Peshmerga (KDP-aligned forces)
Strength
~12,000	~8,000
Casualties and losses
~800 killed and wounded	2,000+ killed, wounded, or captured

The Battle of Jabal Maqlub was a significant but largely overlooked military engagement fought between Iraqi and Iranian forces from April 2 to April 7, 1987, during the late stages of the Iran–Iraq War. Taking place in the Rawanduz region of northern Iraq, the battle was initiated by an Iraqi counteroffensive against Iranian and Kurdish (Peshmerga) forces who had gained control of key mountainous terrain during Operation Karbala-10.

Although not as strategically wide-ranging as major battles in the south, the engagement was tactically vital, as it prevented further Iranian advances in Iraqi Kurdistan and allowed Iraq to reassert control over areas threatened by Iranian-aligned insurgency.

Background

By 1987, both Iran and Iraq were exhausted from nearly seven years of attritional warfare.Unable to make decisive gains on the southern front, Iran had begun launching operations in northern Iraq, capitalizing on alliances with Kurdish insurgents such as the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

During Operation Karbala-10, Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Kurdish fighters had seized high ground overlooking Iraqi Army positions near Rawanduz, a key logistics and military garrison town in Erbil Governorate. The Jabal Maqlub mountain was of particular importance, dominating the Rawanduz–Soran corridor, a crucial route for Iraqi troop movements and air supply.

The Iranian-Kurdish occupation of these positions posed a dual threat: it endangered northern Iraqi infrastructure and emboldened anti-Ba'athist Kurdish insurgents.

Prelude to the battle

Alarmed by the strategic implications of the loss of Jabal Maqlub, the Iraqi High Command ordered an emergency counteroffensive. Led by elements of the elite Republican Guard, along with the 1st Army Corps and special forces from the Army Aviation Command, the objective was to:

• recapture the Jabal Maqlub heights;
• eliminate or disperse Iranian and Peshmerga elements operating in the area;
• prevent further Iranian logistical buildup in Kurdistan;
• re-establish full Iraqi control before launching broader counterinsurgency actions.

The battle

The Iraqi operation commenced on the morning of April 2, 1987, with a heavy artillery barrage and aerial strikes targeting known Iranian and Kurdish positions on the mountain slopes. Iraqi Mi-24 and Gazelle helicopters provided close air support while scouting vulnerable positions.

Ground assault

Infantry and armored columns advanced from Rawanduz and Bekhal, supported by mobile artillery.

Heliborne units from the Republican Guard landed on the western slope of Jabal Maqlub, attempting a pincer movement.

Intense close-quarters combat followed as Iraqi troops stormed entrenched positions, often under fire from machine gun nests and mortar emplacements manned by IRGC and Kurdish fighters.

Kurdish withdrawal

On April 5, following sustained air strikes and Iraqi flanking maneuvers, Kurdish Peshmerga units began withdrawing toward Soran and Choman, suffering heavy casualties.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards tried to regroup at Mount Zozik, but were overwhelmed by Republican Guard artillery on April 7.

Aftermath

The Iraqi victory at Jabal Maqlub had both military and psychological impact.

Military significance

The battle restored Iraqi control over a strategic corridor in the north. It also denied Iran a potential launch point for future offensives toward Erbil or Kirkuk, and severed the coordination line between Iranian command elements and KDP fighters.

Human impact

Civilian casualties were reported in the villages of Haji Omaran and Bekhal, caught between the two sides.

Dozens of captured Peshmerga were later executed or sent to Abu Ghraib Prison.

Reports of chemical weapons use in follow-up raids on surrounding Kurdish villages remain disputed, but plausible.

Strategic implications

The regained security enabled Iraq to shift attention toward retaliatory campaigns in Kurdish areas, including chemical attacks such as those in Sardasht (June 1987) and later Halabja (March 1988).

The battle marked the last time Iran made a serious conventional push in the north before the war began winding down.

Legacy

Though a relatively localized battle, the engagement at Jabal Maqlub is viewed by some historians as a microcosm of the broader war:

• high human cost for minimal strategic change;
• proxy elements (Kurdish fighters) heavily involved;
• use of elite units and aerial mobility by Iraq to contain northern threats.

The battle is rarely referenced in English-language sources and lacks a standalone entry on major military history platforms, though Iraqi military records and Kurdish oral histories recount it with significance.

See also

• Iran–Iraq War
• Operation Karbala-10
• Republican Guard (Iraq)
• Kurdistan Democratic Party
• Halabja chemical attack