U.S. Consulate Recalls Halabja Tragedy

U.S. Consulate General in Erbil's Social Media

The logo of U.S. Consulate General in Erbil.

The U.S. Consulate General in the Erbil recalled the Halabja chemical attack on Saturday, March 16, 2024.

The U.S. Consulate General said in a stated published on their official pages on social media:

"Today marks the 36th anniversary of the brutal massacre in Halabja, when the regime of Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons to kill more than 5,000 innocent civilians in the span of just twenty minutes, severely injuring over 10,000 others. On this solemn anniversary, a day of mourning for all Iraqis especially in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, the U.S. Consulate General in Erbil joins the rest of the world in remembering those who were killed and injured. We will continue working together to prevent such horrible atrocities from ever happening again and to promote the principles of peace, understanding, and diversity."

Note* On March 16, 1988, the warplanes of Iraq's previous Ba'ath regime, led by dictator Saddam Hussein, dropped a deadly mixture of chemical weapons on the city of Halabja. This attack resulted in the deaths of at least 5,000 individuals, predominantly women and children, and caused injuries to hundreds of others. The Halabja chemical attack, officially acknowledged as an act of genocide by Iraq's High Court in 2010, has indelibly marked the collective memory of the Kurdish people. The attack was a component of a broader Anfal genocide operation, which resulted in the death of more than 182,000 Kurds under the rule of the Baathist state.



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