Kurdistan
Soran Ibrahim holding a phone displaying the picture of his brother, Jabbar, who was killed in the Iran-Iraq war over three decades ago. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The remains of a 20-year-old man from Sulaimani, who was killed during the Iran-Iraq war in Basra, have been returned to his family after a search spanning over three decades.
Soran Ibrahim discovered his brother’s name, Jabbar, on a list of victims from the Iran-Iraq war shared on social media. He contacted the page, run by individuals in Basra, who confirmed that the name matched their records. They also had copies of the brother's identity card, which had been found in his pocket after his death.
Soran’s brother was 18 years old when he joined the Iraqi army and was killed at the age of 20. According to surviving comrades, he was shot by a sniper in the foot and could not be carried to safety.
“You must leave; I am done. Do not wait for me,” Soran said his brother had told his comrades.
Soran recalled that his father, who was illiterate, had traveled to Basra numerous times searching for his son.
The family finally collected the remains on Friday.
The Iran-Iraq war, which ran from 1980 to 1988, was a prolonged and devastating conflict. The war saw the use of trench warfare, chemical weapons, and attacks on civilian populations.
Jabbar’s remains were located in a mass grave. Soran said his brother had gone to battle towards the final stages of the war. According to Soran, the International Red Cross and volunteers uncovered the mass grave in 2015.
The remains had been in the custody of a government body specializing in the return of dead soldiers’ bodies. The remains were stored in a bag, along with the identity card his brother had kept in his pocket, according to Soran.
Soran noted that his brother kept a diary while serving in the military, though the family has been unable to read it, for reasons he did not wish to share. He described his brother as active and social, adding that he had studied until the sixth grade in elementary school and had grown up in a village.
“He was a very sharp person. He was brave and competent,” Soran said about his brother, the family’s eldest.
The port city of Basra, where Jabbar was killed, witnessed intense fighting during the war. Iranian forces captured the strategic Faw Peninsula in the Battle of Faw in 1986, cutting off Iraq’s access to the Persian Gulf and also hindering Iraq's ability to recover many of its soldiers' remains. The Peninsula was taken back at the end of the war in 1988.
During the war, the Iraqi government forcibly conscripted many Kurds into the military. Kurdish men, often young and untrained, were sent to the front lines, where they faced severe risks and harsh conditions. This forced conscription was part of broader efforts by the Iraqi regime to suppress Kurdish identity and autonomy.
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