Operation Zafar 7 - Halabja

Halabja

The Iraqi counter-attack was a disaster for Iraq. Saddam responded with a chemical gas attack on Halabja. The Halabja poison gas attack occurred in the period 15 March–19 March 1988 during the Iran-Iraq War when chemical weapons were used by the Iraqi government forces and a number of civilians in the Iraqi Kurdish town of Halabja (population 80,000). This was separate from the al-Anfal Campaign but both were considered acts of genocide. Halabja, which is located approximately 150 miles northeast of Baghdad and 8–10 miles from the Iranian border, was significantly damaged with casualties estimated to be around 5,000.