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What happened in the chemical weapons attack on Halabjah in 1988?

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American soldiers in World War I uniforms, some wearing gas masks, advance with rifles during a simulated gas attack exercise on a rocky battlefield. — chemical weapon American soldiers participating in a simulated gas attack exercise, World War I.

In March 1988, during the Iran-Iraq War, the regime of Saddam Hussein carried out a devastating chemical weapons attack on the city of Halabjah. Iraqi forces targeted the city and surrounding areas, which were inhabited by Kurds considered unfriendly to the regime, after Iranian forces and their Kurdish allies had penetrated the region.12

The attack involved the use of chemical agents—thought to include sarin, hydrogen cyanide, or sulfur mustard gas—resulting in the deaths of approximately 5,000 people, many of whom were civilians. This event remains the most notorious instance of Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against its own population during the conflict. The use of such weapons was part of a broader strategy by the Iraqi regime to maintain its military position and suppress internal opposition during the war.12