The story of Erbil
The day after the fall of Mosul, the Iranian ambassador came to Erbil and met with Nechirvan Idris Barzani – the then Prime Minister of Kurdistan province. In the morning of the same day, Qassem Soleimani had brought his troops and equipment from Iran to Baghdad, at the request of the Prime Minister of Iraq and asked the ambassador to reach Erbil quickly and have a meeting with us and warn about the dangers of ISIS attack, because we believed that ISIS is not a threat to us and we looked at it as a new neighbor. The ambassador said that adopting such position is not good for the regional government, you should make efforts that no problems emerge in Iraq, because the next target of ISIS after occupying “Al-Quair” and ” Makhmur ” is Erbil. My son-in-law Nechirvan told them that they will never attack us, their goal is to overthrow Nouri al-Maliki. On the other hand, since Nouri al-Maliki’s government paid little attention to us, we were not against it if a new government would come to work. There was no reason for us to have dispute with a new government. In our opinion, the path that ISIS had adopted, the new government of Iraq belonged to them. The ambassador argued that they will attack you and then you will ask us for help and he repeated this sentence three times in the form of a question, “Do you know what we will do then?” Nechirvan did not have an answer because he was not ready to accept their argument, but the ambassador replied himself “We will help you”. In those days, we knew that the Iranian officials in Iraq had taken off their diplomatic clothes and were playing a role of military adviser so that this corrupt tumor does not spread everywhere in Iraq.
About 45 days later, ISIS reached the doorsteps of Erbil. My whole family left the region. The people of the city were either fleeing to the mountains or building shelters. The enemy was advancing and bad news was constantly coming from the Peshmerga (Kurdish military forces). Erbil was on the verge of fall, and the fall of Erbil was equal to the fall of Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Baghdad could not help us either. They were fighting ISIS on other fronts. The fall of Mosul was a heavy blow to the Iraqi government. We asked for help from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, England and France, but they also rejected. Contrary to the gestures they made in the international forums, our fate was not important to them at all. Until now, as if we were the puppets of their policies, and now when we asked for help, none of them were with us. No matter how many times we called the Americans, they did not answer. There were many wounded and our ammunition was running out. We needed help, I was getting frustrated with being alone. All those who claimed to be friends with us had now gone into their own security shell and left us alone. I was still trying to contact the Americans, because I was sure that America would not leave the Kurds alone, and after five attempts, I finally succeeded, but they had only one solution: to negotiate with ISIS. Their suggestion was either to give them concessions and end the conflict or to take time from the ISIS under the pretext of negotiation so that they can raise the issue in the Congress. Their justification was that the military intervention of the coalition forces should be carefully investigated and this takes time. This is the American way. They have little flexibility and do not react quickly. This required at least two months. They could have not deviated us in a better way than this. It was a difficult decision for me, but I had to order the evacuation of the city. Resistance was useless. but no! There was one solution left: asking for help from Iran. They had helped us in many critical situations, including the chemical attack of Halabja. But I didn’t know how to ask them for help, Iran has already warned us that the agreement with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would be fruitless, but we did not take his warning seriously and we considered ISIS to be the future ruler of Iraq. Now it was possible that they do not accept our request, but I had no other choice. I tried my last attempt in Turkey and then called the Iranian They introduced me to their plenipotentiary representative to fight ISIS: Qassem Soleimani. It was around ten o’clock in the evening when I called and he said that I will prepare the ammunition for you and it will reach you soon. I said ammunition alone is not enough, we need you. He said that I will also be there tomorrow after the morning prayers. Until tomorrow, it was not known what would happen to the city and its people. I said tomorrow is late Haji. He said, guard the city just tonight, Kak Masoud. I again insisted him to come now, we may not be able to resist until morning. He said, “Trust in God”. Qassem Soleimani was my last hope. I stopped the order of evacuating the city in the hope of his promise, but if he did not keep his promise, the city would no longer be in a situation to evacuate tomorrow, and the order to evacuate tomorrow was like giving medicine to someone after death. However, if he kept his promise and came, it was not clear that would he be able to pass through the siege of Erbil and join us. These questions were running through my mind. I had reached a dead end. I, Masoud Barzani, who was the head of the Iraq’s Kurdistan region, was in such a situation, just imagine what the people of the city were like? That night was one of the hardest nights of my life, if there was no morning.
Ammunition arrived at four o’clock in the morning and news the news came that the Iranians had arrived. I was full of hope again, but when I went to meet them and saw Qassem Soleimani with a few numbers of people, all my hopes were vanished. I said to myself, what was in Haj Qassem’s mind that he came with fifty people in the middle of the siege of our city? How could we go to war with ISIS with fifty people? As it was reported to us, just within 24 hours, 90,000 Iraqi soldiers had left the battlefield, that’s why ISIS was able to advance so fast and reach fifteen kilometers from Erbil. Haj Qassem went to the front line immediately with the same forces. He drew the operation plan. He gathered the Peshmerga and explained for everyone what to do. Within 48 hours, the situation was reversed and the siege was broken. During this time, since the presence of ISIS, it was their first all-round defeat. After saving Erbil, Haj Qassem left some of his troops in Erbil for military advice and went to Karbala himself. When the news of liberation was broadcasted on the wireless, I reached the front line. Could the siege be broken in two days? Was it possible to retreat ISIS with all that equipment? Was it possible for us to be liberated without the help of America and Saudi Arabia? If I had not heard the words of that ISIS prisoner, I would never have believed such an incident. When we asked him, Erbil was in your clutch and only a small push was enough to conquer the city. Why did you withdraw? He said that the spies reported that Qassem Soleimani is in Erbil. At first, we didn’t believe that such a person had come by himself in the middle of the battle of blood and fire, until the scouts observed him and saw him in the front line. When the news of his presence spread from one person to other, we lost our spirit. After this, I thought to myself, what did Haj Qassem Soleimani have that we didn’t have? Whatever it was, it was something beyond military dominance and command power. Maybe that’s what he recommended me to after the phone call. “Trust in God.
Zainab Khazai3
The day after the fall of Mosul, the Iranian ambassador came to Erbil and met with Nechirvan Idris Barzani – the then Prime Minister of Kurdistan province. In the morning of the same day, Qassem Soleimani had brought his troops and equipment from Iran to Baghdad, at the request of the Prime Minister of Iraq and asked the ambassador to reach Erbil quickly and have a meeting with us and warn about the dangers of ISIS attack, because we believed that ISIS is not a threat to us and we looked at it as a new neighbor. The ambassador said that adopting such position is not good for the regional government, you should make efforts that no problems emerge in Iraq, because the next target of ISIS after occupying “Al-Quair” and ” Makhmur ” is Erbil. My son-in-law Nechirvan told them that they will never attack us, their goal is to overthrow Nouri al-Maliki. On the other hand, since Nouri al-Maliki’s government paid little attention to us, we were not against it if a new government would come to work. There was no reason for us to have dispute with a new government. In our opinion, the path that ISIS had adopted, the new government of Iraq belonged to them. The ambassador argued that they will attack you and then you will ask us for help and he repeated this sentence three times in the form of a question, “Do you know what we will do then?” Nechirvan did not have an answer because he was not ready to accept their argument, but the ambassador replied himself “We will help you”. In those days, we knew that the Iranian officials in Iraq had taken off their diplomatic clothes and were playing a role of military adviser so that this corrupt tumor does not spread everywhere in Iraq.
About 45 days later, ISIS reached the doorsteps of Erbil. My whole family left the region. The people of the city were either fleeing to the mountains or building shelters. The enemy was advancing and bad news was constantly coming from the Peshmerga (Kurdish military forces). Erbil was on the verge of fall, and the fall of Erbil was equal to the fall of Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Baghdad could not help us either. They were fighting ISIS on other fronts. The fall of Mosul was a heavy blow to the Iraqi government. We asked for help from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, England and France, but they also rejected. Contrary to the gestures they made in the international forums, our fate was not important to them at all. Until now, as if we were the puppets of their policies, and now when we asked for help, none of them were with us. No matter how many times we called the Americans, they did not answer. There were many wounded and our ammunition was running out. We needed help, I was getting frustrated with being alone. All those who claimed to be friends with us had now gone into their own security shell and left us alone. I was still trying to contact the Americans, because I was sure that America would not leave the Kurds alone, and after five attempts, I finally succeeded, but they had only one solution: to negotiate with ISIS. Their suggestion was either to give them concessions and end the conflict or to take time from the ISIS under the pretext of negotiation so that they can raise the issue in the Congress. Their justification was that the military intervention of the coalition forces should be carefully investigated and this takes time. This is the American way. They have little flexibility and do not react quickly. This required at least two months. They could have not deviated us in a better way than this. It was a difficult decision for me, but I had to order the evacuation of the city. Resistance was useless. but no! There was one solution left: asking for help from Iran. They had helped us in many critical situations, including the chemical attack of Halabja. But I didn’t know how to ask them for help, Iran has already warned us that the agreement with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would be fruitless, but we did not take his warning seriously and we considered ISIS to be the future ruler of Iraq. Now it was possible that they do not accept our request, but I had no other choice. I tried my last attempt in Turkey and then called the Iranian They introduced me to their plenipotentiary representative to fight ISIS: Qassem Soleimani. It was around ten o’clock in the evening when I called and he said that I will prepare the ammunition for you and it will reach you soon. I said ammunition alone is not enough, we need you. He said that I will also be there tomorrow after the morning prayers. Until tomorrow, it was not known what would happen to the city and its people. I said tomorrow is late Haji. He said, guard the city just tonight, Kak Masoud. I again insisted him to come now, we may not be able to resist until morning. He said, “Trust in God”. Qassem Soleimani was my last hope. I stopped the order of evacuating the city in the hope of his promise, but if he did not keep his promise, the city would no longer be in a situation to evacuate tomorrow, and the order to evacuate tomorrow was like giving medicine to someone after death. However, if he kept his promise and came, it was not clear that would he be able to pass through the siege of Erbil and join us. These questions were running through my mind. I had reached a dead end. I, Masoud Barzani, who was the head of the Iraq’s Kurdistan region, was in such a situation, just imagine what the people of the city were like? That night was one of the hardest nights of my life, if there was no morning.
Ammunition arrived at four o’clock in the morning and news the news came that the Iranians had arrived. I was full of hope again, but when I went to meet them and saw Qassem Soleimani with a few numbers of people, all my hopes were vanished. I said to myself, what was in Haj Qassem’s mind that he came with fifty people in the middle of the siege of our city? How could we go to war with ISIS with fifty people? As it was reported to us, just within 24 hours, 90,000 Iraqi soldiers had left the battlefield, that’s why ISIS was able to advance so fast and reach fifteen kilometers from Erbil. Haj Qassem went to the front line immediately with the same forces. He drew the operation plan. He gathered the Peshmerga and explained for everyone what to do. Within 48 hours, the situation was reversed and the siege was broken. During this time, since the presence of ISIS, it was their first all-round defeat. After saving Erbil, Haj Qassem left some of his troops in Erbil for military advice and went to Karbala himself. When the news of liberation was broadcasted on the wireless, I reached the front line. Could the siege be broken in two days? Was it possible to retreat ISIS with all that equipment? Was it possible for us to be liberated without the help of America and Saudi Arabia? If I had not heard the words of that ISIS prisoner, I would never have believed such an incident. When we asked him, Erbil was in your clutch and only a small push was enough to conquer the city. Why did you withdraw? He said that the spies reported that Qassem Soleimani is in Erbil. At first, we didn’t believe that such a person had come by himself in the middle of the battle of blood and fire, until the scouts observed him and saw him in the front line. When the news of his presence spread from one person to other, we lost our spirit. After this, I thought to myself, what did Haj Qassem Soleimani have that we didn’t have? Whatever it was, it was something beyond military dominance and command power. Maybe that’s what he recommended me to after the phone call. “Trust in God.
Zainab Khazai3
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