List of wars involving Kurdistan Region

This is a list of wars that Kurdish rebels and subsequently the autonomous Kurdistan Region has been involved in, since the establishment of Iraq in 1932.

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Results	President (1992–)
Ahmed Barzani revolt (1931–1932)	Barzan tribe	Iraq United Kingdom Assyrian Levies [1]	Iraqi victory Revolt suppressed Barzanis retreat to underground Low-level insurgency continues through 1933 Another revolt by the Barzanis erupts in 1943	Not applicable
1943 Barzani revolt (1943–1945)	Barzani tribesmen Allied Kurdish tribes	Kingdom of Iraq	Iraqi victory Revolt suppressed
First Iraqi–Kurdish War (1961–1970)	KDP Supported by: Iran [2] Israel United States (alleged) [2]	Before 1968: Iraq Syria (1963) Supported by: United States (from 1963) [3] [4] Egypt (1965) [5] After 1968: Ba'athist Iraq	Military stalemate [6] Iraqi–Kurdish Autonomy Agreement Arabization program continued Second Iraqi–Kurdish War in 1974
Second Iraqi–Kurdish War (1974–1975)	KDP Iran Supported by: Israel	Iraq Supported by: Soviet Union [7]	Iraqi victory [8] KDP military and strategic failure Peshmerga fighting ability destroyed KDP–Iraq cease-fire Failed PUK low-level insurgency Iran withdrew its support for KDP 1975 Algiers Agreement Iraqi government reinstates full control over Kurdish-majority territories
1983–1986 Kurdish rebellions in Iraq (1983-1986)	KDP Supported by: Iran PUK Kurdish mujahideen	Iraq	Short-term military stalemate Beginning of Al-Anfal campaign (1986–89) against the Kurds and defeat of the Kurdish rebellion Kurdish KDP, PUK, and Mujahideen temporarily hold major enclaves in North Iraq Long term Kurdish tactical failure
Kurdistan Region–PKK conflict (1983–2025)	Kurdistan Region Peshmerga KDP PUK (sometimes; after 1991) Supported by: Turkey [9]   United States   Israel   Iraq ENKS KDP-S Peshmerga Rojava	KCK PKK (until 2025) HPG YJA-STAR YDG-H YPS YPS-Jin PÇDK (until 2015) PUK (until 1991) Supported by: Iran [10] [11] [12] Hezbollah (claim Peshmerga) Ba'athist Syria (against Turkey) [13] [14] Ba'athist Iraq (against Turkey) [15] [16] [17] Sinjar Alliance YBŞ YJÊ PJAK YRK DAANES SDF PYD	Inconclusive Low level insurgency ended PKK dissolves on 12 May 2025 as part of the 2025 PKK–Turkey peace process
1991 Iraqi uprisings Battle of Sulaymaniyah Battle of Kirkuk (1991) Battle of Tuz Khormato Battle of Zakho	Shia and leftist elements of opposition: SCIRI/Badr Brigades Dawa Communist Party Pro-Syrian Ba'athists Army deserters/defectors Kurdish rebels: Peshmerga: KDP PUK IMK CPK Jash deserters/defectors PDKI Diplomatic Support: United States [18] Military Support Iran [19]	Ba'athist Iraq Ba'ath Party Iraqi Army Republican Guard Special Republican Guard Popular Army General Security Intelligence Service Special Security Support: MEK	Iraqi government military victory Establishment of Kurdistan Region, facilitated by the imposition of the Iraqi no-fly zones by United States, United Kingdom and France
Iraqi Kurdish Civil War (1994–1997)	KDP Supported by: Iraq (from 1995) Turkey (from 1997) Iran (before 1995)	PUK PKK [20] SCIRI KCP Iraqi National Congress Supported by: Iran (from 1995) Syria United States (1996)	Washington Agreement PKK moved to Qandil mountains from Bekaa Valley	Masoud Barzani (KDP-controlled part) Jalal Talabani (PUK-controlled part)
Kurdistan Islamist Conflict (2001–2003)	Kurdistan Region PUK   United States (armed involvement after Viking Hammer)	Islamic Emirate of Kurdistan Ansar al-Islam [21] [22] Kurdistan Islamic Group [21] Kurdistan Islamic Movement [23] Supported by: Iran (alleged by PUK) [24] KDP (alleged by PUK) [24]	Kurdistan Region–United States victory Kurdistan Regional Government regains control of the Islamic Emirate of Kurdistan
Iraq War (2003–2011)	Invasion (2003) Coalition of the willing United States United Kingdom Australia Poland Kurdistan Region KDP PUK Iraqi National Congress Free Iraqi Forces [27] After invasion (2003–11)   Iraq   United States   United Kingdom MNF–I (2003–09)   Kurdistan Region Awakening Council	Invasion (2003) Republic of Iraq MEK [28] After invasion (2003–11) Al-Qaeda in Iraq Islamic Army in Iraq Islamic State of Iraq Mahdi Army Naqshbandi Army Hamas of Iraq Jaysh al-Mujahideen 1920 Revolution Brigades Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna	Victory Depletion of Iraqi insurgency, improvements in public security Re-establishment of democratic elections U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement See § Aftermath
War in Iraq (2013 [29] [30] –2017 [31] )	Central government of Iraq [32] Iraqi Armed Forces Iraqi Ground Forces Iraqi Air Force CTS-ISOF Popular Mobilization Forces Sunni Tribal Mobilization (since 2015) Assyrian Forces (Iraqi command) Federal Police Kurdistan Region [32] Peshmerga Zeravani Kurdistan Region Security Council CTG Kurdistan Parastin u Zanyari Assyrian Forces (Kurdish command) Allied groups: Sinjar Alliance PKK [33] Rojava [33] Kurdish National Council [34] Iraqi Turkmen Front Iraqi Communist Party Various self-defense groups Others: Iran Hezbollah Liwa Zainebiyoun Syria [35] CJTF–OIR United States United Kingdom Canada [36] [37] Australia [38] France Italy Netherlands New Zealand [39] Finland [40] Denmark [41]	Islamic State Sunni insurgent factions (2013–2015) Naqshbandi Army Army of Pride and Dignity [42] Hamas of Iraq Islamic Front for the Iraqi Resistance GMCIR (2014) Free Iraqi Army (2013–2014) Islamic Army in Iraq (2013–2014) 1920 Revolution Brigades (2013–2015) [43] Anbar Tribal Council (2013–2015)	Iraqi and allied victory [44]	Masoud Barzani
2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict (2017)	Kurdistan Regional Government PKK [45] PDKI [46] PAK [47] White Flags (alleged) [48]	Iraq Supported by: Iran [49]	Iraqi victory Iraqi government forces defeat the Peshmerga and capture 40% [50] of the territory controlled by the Kurdistan Region including the province of Kirkuk, along with its oil fields and checkpoints, [51] Khanaqin and Jalawla in Diyala province, as well as Makhmur, Bashiqa and Sinjar [52] in Nineveh province. [53]

References

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2. Wolfe-Hunnicutt, Brandon (2021). The Paranoid Style in American Diplomacy: Oil and Arab Nationalism in Iraq. Stanford University Press. p. 102. ISBN   978-1-5036-1382-9. As the IPC moved in opposition to Qasim, Israeli and Iranian covert assistance began to pour into Iraqi Kurdistan... Kurdish representatives reached out to the US embassy for the same... Available documentation does not prove conclusively that the United States provided covert assistance to the Kurds in the fall of 1962, but the documents that have been declassified are certainly suggestive—especially in light of the general US policy orientation toward Iraq during this period.
3. Wolfe-Hunnicutt, B. (2015). "Embracing Regime Change in Iraq: American Foreign Policy and the 1963 Coup d'etat in Baghdad" . Diplomatic History. 39 (1): 98–125. doi:10.1093/dh/dht121. ISSN   0145-2096. Despite massive political, economic, and military aid to the fledgling Ba'thist government—including the provision of napalm weapons to assist the regime in what the Embassy regarded as a 'genocidal' counterinsurgency campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan—the first Ba'thist regime in Iraq proved 'not long for this world,' in the words of a rather gleeful British Ambassador. The Ba'th presided over a nine-month reign of terror, and the scale of the party's brutality shocked Iraqi sensibilities. Moreover, the Ba'th's association—in the public mind—with the American CIA only hastened its demise. In mid-November 1963, less than nine months after taking power, the Ba'th's rivals in the Iraqi Army deposed the Ba'th and rejoined Qasim's challenge to the IPC.
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27. ^{[25] [26]}
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