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Anfal & Halabja

Anfal and Halabja are synonymous for the darkest chapter of Kurdish history in Iraq. They represent the suffering and destruction at the hands of the Iraqi Baath regime’s genocidal campaign against the Kurds. The most notorious period of the campaign happened between 1983-1989. The lives of over 182,000 men, women, and children were taken during operation Anfal. The worst of the attacks occurred in Halabja, where more than 5,000 civilians died instantly after being bombed with poison gas on 16 March 1988. This year marks the 26th anniversary of the Halabja atrocity, which to this day remains the largest use of chemical weapons against a civilian-populated area.