Marivan
Marivan is one of the counties of Kurdistan Province in western Iran, bordering Iraq, which was repeatedly subjected to aerial, ground, and chemical attacks during the Iran-Iraq War.
Probably, the word Marivan is derived from “ Marban”, meaning a place where a lot of snakes live.[1] The people of Marivan are Kurdish, with Kurdish as their mother tongue and Persian as the language of education and official writing. The predominant religion is Sunni Shafiei Islam.[2]
Marivan’ s history dates back to the pre-Islamic era.[3] Due to its abundant water and agricultural resources, its freshwater lake, its border with Iraq, and the movement of military forces from both countries, Marivan has always been a strategically important region. In 1976, its population stood at 120,451.[4]
Marivan County consists of three districts — Central, Khavmir Abad, and Sarshiv — four cities, three districts, six rural districts, and 173 villages. The city of Marivan is the county capital and the most significant tourist destination in Kurdistan Province.[5] The county borders Sonqor to the north, Sanandaj to the east and southeast, Paveh to the south, and Iraq to the west and northwest.[6] The Marivan region is influenced by Mediterranean air currents and covered with rich and diverse vegetation. A height called Kuklan lies to the north of Marivan, divided by the border line into a northern section belonging to Iraq and a southern section belonging to Iran. Part of the Shiler Plain lies in the northern section of Kuklan.[7] The most important border area of Marivan is Shiler Valley.[8]
The Army garrison is located twelve kilometers from Marivan.[9] The Marivan Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was established on July 11, 1979, to counter anti-revolutionary groups.[10] In the final days of July that year, Marivan fell under the control of anti-revolutionary forces,[11] and was cleared of them on September 4 thanks to the efforts of IRGC units and volunteer fighters.[12] However, a few months later, anti-revolutionary elements again took control of Marivan.[13] The city was finally cleared of them in mid-1980.[14]
The Kani-Miran village and Bardeh-Rash city came under Iraqi artillery fire on September 19, 1980. The following day, the IRGC set up two operational bases in the villages of Kikan and Kani-Miran and took control of the area. At midday on September 22, two Iraqi jets broke the sound barrier over Marivan.[15]
As part of their first ground assault on Iran’ s northwestern borders, the Iraqi troops occupied the Dalani Heights 35 kilometers south of Marivan and the Dezli Heights 29 kilometers from the city.[16] With the help of anti-revolutionary forces, the Iraqi army also managed to seize the Qooch-Sultan elevations west of Marivan.
Early in the Iran-Iraq War, Marivan was bombarded on several consecutive days. The attacks caused damage to residential areas and civilians, and five Iraqi aircraft were also shot down.[17] An Iraqi MiG bombed the slopes of Qaleh-Emam mountain southeast of Marivan on October 10, 1980.[18]
A group of IRGC members, Army soldiers, and Peshmerga fighters attacked the Qooch-Sultan Heights on November 22, 1980, killing 23 Iraqis. On December 18, Iraq’ s Second Corps attacked the heights west of Marivan, and within a week, it had consolidated its position and taken control of the Iranian border strip west of the city.[19] Subsequently, on December 22, Iranian forces attacked the Qooch-Sultan Heights but retreated because of heavy Iraqi counterattacks.[20]
On December 27, 1980, the Army, IRGC, and Muslim Kurdish Peshmerga began an operation to liberate the Dezli and Dalani heights. After three days of fighting, they secured both heights, thereby gaining a commanding view over the city of Khurmal as well as the Khurmal– Seyyed Sadeq– Halabja Road.[21]
In early 1981, Iraqi aircraft targeted Marivan with American-made napalm incendiary bombs.[22]
Iranian forces, under the command of Ahmad Motavasselian, attacked Iraqi troops from June 2 to 6, 1981, to liberate the Qooch-Sultan Heights. More than 84 Iraqis were captured, and 200 killed or wounded, and Qooch-Sultan was liberated as a result.[23]
Iraq bombed Marivan on November 27 and 29, 1981.[24] Operation Muhammad Rasulullah (pbuh) was carried out on January 2, 1982, across the Tateh and Takht-e Uraman heights near Marivan, with the aim of securing the international border south of the city and west of Paveh.[25]
The Iraqi army attacked Marivan nine times with airstrikes and artillery between October 10, 1980, and April 14, 1982. Reconstruction projects in Marivan began in 1982, and by early 1984, thirty-one residential units in three villages — Daraki, Damiu, and Dezli — and sixty residential units in Marivan city had been rebuilt and renovated.[26]
As a result of an Iraqi airstrike against the IRGC ammunition depot on September 28, 1983, a large number of its personnel were martyred and injured. On October 11, the telecommunications center and one of the IRGC headquarters were also hit by Iraqi aircraft.[27] A few days later, on October 19, Iraqi forces targeted Marivan several times, and three days after that, it was bombed again.[28]
Following the successful Operation Valfajr 4, which was launched on October 19, 1983,[29] Marivan’ s security situation improved, one of the main infiltration routes for anti-revolutionary groups was cut off, and a large number of Iraqi forces were killed or captured.[30] The northern section of the Kani-Manga Heights at the mouth of Shiler Valley was also liberated.[31] Concurrent with Operation Valfajr 4, the Koolan Emergency Center — opened on July 11, 1983, in Koolan village— was upgraded to Koolan Hospital.[32]
On October 25, 1983, Marivan came under a chemical attack with mustard gas, resulting in the martyrdom and injuries of many civilians and military forces.[33]
More than 40 percent of Marivan’ s residential and commercial areas were destroyed in the 1983 attacks, and many rural districts — including Uramali-Takht, Chali-Sur, Khavmir, and others — were heavily damaged.[34]
In 1984, Ya Zahra (sa) Field Hospital was built in the Dezli district of Marivan.[35]
On May 26, 27, and 28, 1984, Iraq targeted Marivan with missiles on three consecutive days. On March 10, 1985, several MiG and Mirage aircraft bombarded Marivan and Baneh. As a result, Habibollah Eftekharyan — known as Abu Ammar — the commander of the Marivan IRGC, along with some others, was martyred.[36]
In April 1985, Iraqi aircraft that had set out to bomb Marivan were shot down by Iranian forces. At that time, Marivan was nearly uninhabited.[37]
Operation Valfajr 9 was carried out on February 24, 1986, with the aim of advancing into eastern Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, in an area accessible via two roads from the Shiler Mouth and the Choman region to the cities of Marivan and Baneh. A further objective of the operation was to relieve enemy pressure on the Al-Faw front (Operation Valfajr 8).[38]
One of the key operations of 1988 was Valfajr 10, conducted on March 14 in Halabja and Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.[39] A number of border heights between Nowsud and Marivan were liberated in the operation.[40] The Allah-Akbar Field Hospital was built before the operation, twenty kilometers from Marivan Hospital.[41]
Two Iraqi aircraft dropped chemical bombs on Marivan on March 16, 1988. Two days later, the area between the villages of Qaleh-Ji and Dezli was bombarded, and on March 24, a large-scale chemical attack was carried out in the region, causing few casualties due to the city being largely uninhabited. Two days later, the area around the Allah-Akbar Field Hospital was also hit with chemical weapons.[42] On April 2, the hospital once again came under a chemical attack.
During Iraq’ s renewed all-out invasion on July 21, 1988, one of the Iraqi entry axes was the Panjwin– Marivan route. However, Iraqi forces retreated in the face of Iranian resistance.[43]
Marivan was targeted in 119 Iraqi airstrikes, in which 310 people were martyred, and 1,278 were wounded.[44]
After the Iran-Iraq War ended in 1988, Mazandaran Province — designated as the supporting province — joined the Marivan IRGC in reconstructing the damaged areas,[45] a process that was completed in early 1989.[46]
According to the 2016 census, the population of Marivan County is 195,263.[47]
References
- [1]. Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar, Loghatnameh-ye Dehkhoda (Dehkhoda Dictionary), Vol. 12, Tehran: Moasseseh-ye Entesharat va Chap-e Daneshgah-e Tehran, 1373, p. 18310.
- [2]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3: Ta Tateh, Marivan (The Book of Narrator Book 3: Up to Tateh, Marivan), Tehran: Fatehan, 1393, Pp. 15, 16.
- [3]. Ibid., Pp. 19, 20.
- [4]. Ahamm-e Faaliyatha-ye Nosazi va Bazsazi dar Sal-e 1361 va 1362 (Important Reconstruction and Renovation Activities in 1982 and 1983), Tehran: Dabirkhaneh-ye Setad-e Markazi-ye Bazsazi va Nosazi-ye Manateq-e Jang-zadeh, 1363, p. 351.
- [5]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), p. 15.
- [6]. Daftar-e Pazhooheshha-ye Farhangi-ye Moavenat-e Pazhoohesh va Ertebatat-e Farhangi-ye Bonyad-e Shahid va Omoor-e Isargaran, Farhang-e Aalam-e Shohada-ye Ostan-e Kordestan (Dictionary of Martyrs of Kurdistan Province), Tehran: Shahed, 1392, p. 43.
- [7]. Kazemi, Asghar, Bamoo (Bamoo), Tehran: Howzeh-ye Honari, 1379, p. 598.
- [8]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), Pp. 13, 17.
- [9]. Ibid., p. 219.
- [10]. Ibid., p. 30.
- [11]. Ibid., p. 67.
- [12]. Ibid., p. 93.
- [13]. Ibid., p. 104.
- [14]. Ibid., p. 116.
- [15]. Salehi, Maryam, Lotfi, Maryam, Nazdiktar az Baradar (Closer than a Brother), Tehran: Fatehan, 1395, p. 110.
- [16]. Sadeqi, Reza, Atlas-e Rahnama 9: Kordestan dar Jang-e Zedd-e Shureshgari va Defa Muqaddas (Atlas No. 9: Kurdistan in Anti-Insurgency War and Sacred Defense), Tehran: Markaz-e Asnad va Tahqiqat-e Defa Muqaddas, 1390, p. 126.
- [17]. Ibid., p. 123; Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), Pp. 37, 127.
- [18]. Salehi, Maryam, Lotfi, Maryam, Nazdiktar az Baradar (Closer than a Brother), p. 113.
- [19]. Sadeqi, Reza, Atlas-e Rahnama 9 (Atlas No. 9), p. 124; Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), p. 132.
- [20]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), p. 140.
- [21]. Ibid., p. 141; Sadeqi, Reza, Atlas-e Rahnama 9 (Atlas No. 9), p. 126.
- [22]. Salehi, Maryam, Lotfi, Maryam, Nazdiktar az Baradar (Closer than a Brother), p. 135.
- [23]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), Pp. 40, 156.
- [24]. Ibid., p. 167.
- [25]. Ibid.; Rashid, Mohsen, Atlas-e Jang-e Iran va Araq (Atlas of the Iran-Iraq War), Tehran: Markaz-e Motaleaat va Tahqiqat-e Jang, 1379, p. 56.
- [26]. Ahamm-e Faaliyat-ha-ye Nosazi va Bazsazi dar Sal-e 1361 va 1362 (Important Reconstruction and Renovation Activities in 1982 and 1983), p. 354.
- [27]. Salehi, Maryam, Lotfi, Maryam, Nazdiktar az Baradar (Closer than a Brother), p. 179.
- [28]. Ibid., p. 184; Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), p. 196.
- [29]. Rashid, Mohsen, Atlas-e Jang-e Iran va Araq (Atlas of the Iran-Iraq War), p. 90.
- [30]. Durri, Hassan, Atlas-e Rahnama 5: Karnameh-ye Nabardha-ye Zamini (Atlas No. 5: Record of Ground Battles), Tehran: Markaz-e Motaleaat va Tahqiqat-e Jang-e Sepah, 1381, p. 136.
- [31]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), p. 226; Kazemi, Asghar, Qolleh-ye 1904 (Peak 1904), Tehran: Moavenat-e Tablighat va Entesharat-e Namayandegi-ye Vali-ye Faqih dar Niroo-ye Zamini, 1376.
- [32]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), p. 223.
- [33]. Ibid., Pp. 197, 198; Gorooh-e Nevisandegan, Marivan (Marivan), Tehran: Bonyad-e Hefz-e Aasar va Nashr-e Arzeshha-ye Defa Muqaddas, 1385, p. 55.
- [34]. Ahamm-e Faaliyatha-ye Nosazi va Bazsazi dar Sal-e 1361 va 1362 (Important Reconstruction and Renovation Activities in 1982 and 1983), Pp. 351, 352.
- [35]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), p. 221.
- [36]. Salehi, Maryam, Lotfi, Maryam, Nazdiktar az Baradar (Closer than a Brother), p. 190.
- [37]. Ibid.
- [38]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), p. 204; Rashid, Mohsen, Atlas-e Jang-e Iran va Araq (Atlas of the Iran-Iraq War), p. 91.
- [39]. Durri, Hassan, Atlas-e Rahnama 5: Karnameh-ye Nabardha-ye Zamini (Atlas No. 5: Record of Ground Battles), p. 148.
- [40]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), p. 211.
- [41]. Ibid., Pp. 221, 222.
- [42]. Ibid., Pp. 208, 211.
- [43]. Ibid., p. 213.
- [44]. Ibid., p. 42; Sadeqi, Reza, Atlas-e Rahnama 9 (Atlas No. 9), p. 54.
- [45]. Mahdinejad, Sara, Ketab-e Ravi 3 (The Book of Narrator 3), p. 45.
- [46]. Shenasinameh-ye Projeha-ye Bazsazi va Nosazi-ye Manateq-e Jang-zadeh Keshvar Ostan-e Azerbaijan-e Gharbi Shahrestan-e Oroomiyeh (Project Identification of Reconstruction in War-Torn Areas, West Azerbaijan Province, Urmia County), Tehran: Jahad-e Daneshgahi Daneshgah-e Tehran, 1377, p. 69.
- [47]. Natayej-e Tafsili-ye Sarshomari-ye Omoomi-ye Nofos va Maskan 1395 (Detailed Results of the 2016 General Population and Housing Census), Daftar-e Riyasat, Ravabet-e Omoomi va Hamkariha-ye Beynolmelal Markaz-e Aamar-e Iran, 1395, p. 75.
