The Anfal campaign, directed by Saddam Hussein, was a systematic operation conducted between 1986 and 1989, primarily targeting the Kurdish population in northern Iraq. On February 23, 1988, the campaign escalated with large-scale military actions aimed at decimating Kurdish settlements and suppressing any insurgent activities. The Iraqi regime justified the campaign as a counter-insurgency measure against Kurdish guerillas who were perceived as collaborators with Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. However, the methods employed were extreme and included widespread chemical attacks, forced relocations, and mass executions.

The most notorious operation within the Anfal campaign occurred in Halabja in March 1988, where chemical weapons were deployed, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths. The Anfal campaign was executed under the guise of a military operation but was fundamentally about systematic ethnic cleansing. It not only decimated the Kurdish militants but also targeted the civilian population, with reports of thousands going missing, executed, or sent to prisons.

Overall, by the end of this campaign, it is estimated that approximately 182,000 Kurds were killed, and many communities were displaced. The Anfal campaign effectively dissolved the Kurdish cultural and social landscape in many regions of northern Iraq, leading to significant demographic changes and long-lasting scars within the affected communities.