Halabja

The history of Halabja is believed to have started during the Akkadian Empire period (24th century BC). The ancient city-kingdom of Lullubi from that period is thought to be located in Halabja area.

On 14th of April 2025, the Iraqi Parlement has decided Halabja is the 19th provenance of Iraq, this is a historical moment for people of Halabja. https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2025/04/14/iraq-declares-halabja-scene-of-saddams-gas-attack-on-kurds-as-19th-province/

The excavations at nearby archaeological sites like Bakr Awa revealed a long history. The cemetery there includes the tombs of several historical figures, such as Ahmed Mukhtar Jaff, Tayar Bag Jaff and Adila Khanim. In August 2009, three 17th century tombs were discovered in the Ababile district of the town.{{cite web |title=Ancient tombs found in Halabja |publisher=AK News |date=2008-08-09 |url=http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/1/61417/ |access-date=2009-09-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821143650/http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/1/61417/ |archive-date=21 August 2009 |df=dmy-all }}

This suggests that the town is somewhat older than indicated by some sources, which claim that it was built by the Ottoman Empire at about 1850. However, modern developments date from the early 20th century. The post office opened in 1924 and the first school opened the following year. The Qaysari Pasha and Hamid Bag bazaars were built-in 1932. Electricity did not reach the city until 1940.{{cite web |title=History of Halabja |publisher=PUK media |date=2009-03-16 |url=http://pukmedia.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3760&Itemid=1 |access-date=2009-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003135858/http://pukmedia.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3760&Itemid=1 |archive-date=3 October 2011 |url-status=dead }}

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were many British soldiers stationed in Halabja. During World War I, Adela Khanum saved the lives of several British soldiers, resulting in the British honoring her with the title Khan Bahadur, Princess of the Brave. She was also responsible for the building of a new prison, setting up a court of justice, of which she was the first president and building a new bazaar.{{cite web |title=Adela Khanum – Princess of the Brave |publisher=Kurdistan's Women |date=2008-04-04 |url= http://kurdistanwomen.blogspot.com/2008/04/adela-khanum-princess-of-brave_2339.html |access-date=2009-09-07}}

During the Al-Anfal campaign of the Iraqi Government, which took place between March 1987 and May 1989, the neighborhoods Kani Ashqan and Mordana were erased in May 1987 as a reprisal for the support of the Peshmerga.{{Cite book|title=Genocide in Iraq: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds|last1=Committee|first1=Human Rights Watch Middle East Watch|last2=Staff|first2=Middle East Watch|last3=Black|first3=George|last4=Watch (Organization)|first4=Middle East|date=1993|publisher=Human Rights Watch|isbn=9781564321084|pages=103|language=en}} But Halabja suffered much more during the Al-Anfal campaign, in which Saddam Hussein violently suppressed Kurdish revolts during the Iran–Iraq War.

{{Main|Halabja massacre}}

The Kurdish Peshmerga guerrillas, supported by Iran, captured Halabja in the final phase of the Iran–Iraq War. At 11:00 AM, On March 16, 1988, after two days of conventional artillery attacks, Iraqi planes dropped gas canisters on the town.{{cite web |title=Remembering Victims of Genocide: The Chemical Attack on Halabja 1988 |url=http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/15032017 |website=Rudaw}}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/16/newsid_4304000/4304853.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=1988: Thousands die in Halabja gas attack |date=1988-03-16 |access-date=2010-05-04}} The town and surrounding district were attacked with bombs, artillery fire and chemical weapons, the last of which proved most devastating. At least 5,000 people died as an immediate result of the chemical attack and it is estimated that a further 7,000 people were injured or suffered long-term illness.{{cite news |author=Osman, Hiwa |date=March 17, 2002|title=Iraqi Kurds recall chemical attack |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1877161.stm |access-date=2006-08-05}} Most of the victims of the attack on the town of Halabja were Kurdish civilians.{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1991/IRAQ913.htm|title=Whatever Happened To The Iraqi Kurds? |date=March 11, 1991|publisher=Human Rights Watch}}

The attack is believed to have included the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX, as well as mustard gas. However, according to former senior CIA analyst Stephen C. Pelletiere, Iraq did not have the nerve agent used in the attack but did have mustard gas which was used in the Iran–Iraq War. An interdisciplinary scientific study from 2019, after more than three decades, shows that the chemical attacks on Halabja have long-term biological, psychological and social effects on the survivors. The authors, Faraidoun Moradi, Mia Söderberg, Fazil Moradi and others conclude: "The post-exposure somatic and psychosocial effects such as respiratory symptoms of CWA are a plausible contributors to poor general health and quality of life among survivors. We conclude that multidisciplinary interventions are needed to tackle the biopsychosocial complications in survivors of SM exposure to minimize further health damage in the future, as well as to promote their health-related quality of life."{{Cite journal|last1=Moradi|first1=Faraidoun|last2=Söderberg|first2=Mia|last3=Moradi|first3=Fazil|last4=Daka|first4=Bledar|last5=Olin|first5=Anna-Carin|last6=Lärstad|first6=Mona|date=2019-06-21|title=Health perspectives among Halabja's civilian survivors of sulfur mustard exposure with respiratory symptoms—A qualitative study|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=14|issue=6|pages=e0218648|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0218648|issn=1932-6203|pmc=6588230|pmid=31226143|doi-access=free}}

It is occasionally suggested{{cite web|url=http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/cyanide/basics/facts.asp|title=Facts About Cyanide|publisher=Centers for Disease Control|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415140426/http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/cyanide/basics/facts.asp|archive-date=15 April 2010|df=dmy-all}} that cyanide was also included among these chemical weapons, though this assertion has been cast into doubt, as cyanide is a natural byproduct of impure Tabun.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/02/iraq_events/html/chemical_warfare.stm |title=Iraq events – Chemical warfare |publisher=BBC News |access-date=2010-05-04}}

Before the war ended the Iraqis moved in on the ground and completely destroyed the town.{{cite news |author=Hirst, David|date=March 22, 1988|title=The Kurdish victims caught unaware by cyanide |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1251881,00.html |access-date=2006-06-09 |location=London}} In March 2010, the Iraqi High Criminal Court recognized the Halabja massacre as genocide; the decision was welcomed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.[http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/120001/ AK News, 1 March 2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110320191235/http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/120001 |date=20 March 2011 }}

In the mountains to the east of Halabja, a militant Kurdish Islamist group, Ansar al-Islam, occupied a small enclave in the period of 2000–2003. The area was overrun by Peshmerga forces from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), with U.S. air support, at the beginning of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. The town has remained a center of Islamism in the Kurdistan region, however.{{Citation needed|date=November 2018}}

Just before Kurds gained some autonomy over the Iraqi Kurdistan region in 1991, which included Halabja, a new town was set up where some former Kurdish refugees later relocated. The new town called Halabja Taza (or New Halabja) today has an estimated 9,000 homes.[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/world/middleeast/04kurdistan.html Dagher, Sam. Uprooted for Decades, Iraqi Kurds Long for Home. Halabja Taza Journal. NY Times, 3 September 2009]

The Kurdistan Regional Government made some concentrated reconstruction efforts after 2003 in the old town and began rebuilding some of the bombed-out homes in Halabja and paving new roads. A memorial was also constructed for the victims of the chemical attacks. However, residents of Halabja have complained about the continued lack of basic services and necessities.{{cite web|url=http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/quest/story.html?id=bfabd6c7-6bf6-4235-ba50-9309d26a55d4|title=Mohammad, Susan. Revisiting the horror of Halabja. The Ottawa Citizen, 22 October 2007|work=canada.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412070653/http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/quest/story.html?id=bfabd6c7-6bf6-4235-ba50-9309d26a55d4|archive-date=12 April 2009|df=dmy-all}}

On the 2006 anniversary of the gas attack, violent demonstrations erupted in Halabja. An estimated 7,000 demonstrators protested against priorities in reconstruction, claiming that officials were not sincerely addressing the problems of the gas attack victims. Roadblocks were set up and the gas attack memorial museum was set afire. Police fired at protesters killing one 14-year-old boy and wounding many others.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4812128.stm|title=BBC NEWS – Middle East – Kurdish clash at Halabja memorial|work=bbc.co.uk|date=16 March 2006}}

In 2008, plans were announced to construct an international airport for the city.{{cite web |title= International Airport to be built in Halabja town ( K Sat) |publisher=Independent Kurdistan Journalism |date=2008-07-16 |url= http://independentkurdistanjournalism.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-airport-to-be-built-in.html |access-date=2009-09-07}}

On 12 November 2017 at 21:18 local time, an earthquake struck approximately {{Convert|32|km|}} south-southwest of Halabja.{{Cite web|url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us2000bmcg|title=M 7.3 - 30km SW of Halabjah, Iraq|website=earthquake.usgs.gov|access-date=12 November 2017}}

Halabja has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) with very hot summers and cool wet winters.

{{Weather box

|location = Halabja

|metric first = Yes

|single line = Yes

|Jan high C = 9.6

|Feb high C = 11.8

|Mar high C = 16.9

|Apr high C = 22.0

|May high C = 29.5

|Jun high C = 35.8

|Jul high C = 39.6

|Aug high C = 39.2

|Sep high C = 35.0

|Oct high C = 28.4

|Nov high C = 19.7

|Dec high C = 12.5

|year high C = 25.0

|Jan mean C = 4.8

|Feb mean C = 6.6

|Mar mean C = 11.2

|Apr mean C = 15.8

|May mean C = 22.0

|Jun mean C = 27.4

|Jul mean C = 31.2

|Aug mean C = 30.8

|Sep mean C = 26.4

|Oct mean C = 20.5

|Nov mean C = 13.3

|Dec mean C = 7.3

|year mean C = 18.1

|Jan low C = 0.1

|Feb low C = 1.4

|Mar low C = 5.6

|Apr low C = 9.7

|May low C = 14.5

|Jun low C = 19.0

|Jul low C = 22.8

|Aug low C = 22.5

|Sep low C = 17.9

|Oct low C = 12.7

|Nov low C = 7.0

|Dec low C = 2.2

|year low C = 11.3

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 144

|Feb precipitation mm = 146

|Mar precipitation mm = 132

|Apr precipitation mm = 85

|May precipitation mm = 35

|Jun precipitation mm = 0

|Jul precipitation mm = 0

|Aug precipitation mm = 0

|Sep precipitation mm = 0

|Oct precipitation mm = 28

|Nov precipitation mm = 79

|Dec precipitation mm = 124

|year precipitation mm =

|source 1 = {{cite web

| url = https://en.climate-data.org/location/47960/

| publisher = Bureau of Meteorology |title = Climate statistics for Halabja|access-date = 21 January 2017}}

|date= 2017

}}

==Topography==

Halabja is located in the Shahrizor plain, a fertile valley nestled in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city's elevation is around 700 meters above sea level. The surrounding area is characterized by mountainous terrain, with the Hawraman Mountain range to the east, which plays a significant role in the city’s climate and geography. The region’s topography includes rolling hills and valleys, making it ideal for agriculture, particularly in the fertile plains.

{{cite book

| last = Tuncer

| first = Bülent

| title = Geographical Features of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

| publisher = Kurdish Studies

| year = 2013

| location = Erbil

| page = 112

}}

• Dujail
• Human rights in Saddam Hussein's Iraq
• Operation Red Dawn
• Trial of Saddam Hussein

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category-inline}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090917143048/http://www.iraqimage.com/pages/browse/Halabjah.html Iraq Image – Halabja Satellite Observation]

{{coord|35|11|N|45|59|E|type:city|display=title}}

{{Districts of Iraq}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Cities in Iraqi Kurdistan

Category:District capitals of Iraq

Category:Districts of Halabja Province

Category:1650 establishments in the Ottoman Empire

Category:Populated places established in 1650

Category:Kurdish settlements in Iraq