Al-Anfal campaign

E61381

The Al-Anfal campaign was a late-1980s genocidal military operation by Saddam Hussein’s regime that targeted and massacred Kurdish civilians in northern Iraq.

Aliases (2)

Statements (48)
Predicate Object
instanceOf crime against humanity
genocide
military campaign
war crime
alsoKnownAs Al-Anfal genocide
Anfal genocide
commander Ali Hassan al-Majid
country Iraq
endTime 1989
languageOfName Arabic
legalClassification genocide against Kurds
legalStatus recognized as genocide by Iraqi High Tribunal
recognized as genocide by several national parliaments
location Iraqi Kurdistan
Kurdish regions of Iraq
northern Iraq
mainPhaseStartTime 1988
method chemical weapons attacks
forced displacement
mass executions
scorched earth policy
village destruction
militaryBranchInvolved Iraqi Air Force
Iraqi Army
motive Arabization of Kurdish areas
suppression of Kurdish resistance
nameMeaning The Spoils (from Quranic sura Al-Anfal)
notableEvent chemical attack on Halabja
numberOfVictims over 50000
up to 182000
partOf Iraqi government repression of Kurds
Iraq–Kurdish conflict
perpetrator Ba'athist Iraq
Saddam Hussein regime
politicalLeader Saddam Hussein
region Middle East
result destruction of thousands of Kurdish villages
mass killing of Kurdish civilians
securityForcesInvolved Ba'ath Party militias
Iraqi intelligence services
startTime 1986
target Iraqi Kurds
Kurdish civilians
rural Kurdish villages
timePeriod late 1980s
victimGroup Kurdish children
Kurdish men
Kurdish women

Referenced by (3)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Iraqi Special Tribunal ("Anfal campaign trial")
notableCase
Saddam Hussein
orderedEvent
Iraqi Kurdish rebellions ("Anfal campaign")
relatedTo

Please wait…