Anfal campaign

The Anfal campaign was a series of military operations carried out by the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein against the Kurdish population in northern Iraq, in the closing stages of the Iran–Iraq War. It was directed by Ali Hassan al-Majid, later nicknamed Chemical Ali. Iraqi forces destroyed thousands of villages, used chemical weapons, including in the attack on Halabja in 1988, and rounded up civilians, many of whom were taken away and killed in mass executions, while others were deported to camps. The number of dead is estimated at tens of thousands, and Kurdish sources give much higher figures. Iraqi courts later found the campaign to be genocide, and several parliaments have recognized it as such.

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