1991 Uprising in Karbala
Encyclopedia
The Shiite Uprising in Karbala was one of many major points of unrest in Iraq
following the Gulf War
. The uprising started after demoralized troops throughout Iraq began to rebel against Saddam Hussein
. From March 5 to March 19, 1991, the city of Karbala
became chaotic battlefield between the insurgents and Iraqi Republican Guard
. After the failure of the uprising, citizens were killed in large numbers. Parts of the city were nearly leveled.
all the way to Pakistan
flocked to the city as pilgrims
to the Imam Husayn Shrine
. In the months of the Gulf War, the city was carefully avoided by the Coalition
bombing campaign due to the significance of the city’s mosques. The city suffered little damage throughout the war in general.
In the days leading up to the uprising, it was believed by some that agents from Iran
moved in amongst the population for the future channeling of Islamic revolution; an unsubstantiated claim which the Ba'athist regime was all too eager to propagate in their attempt to discredit the uprising. Finally, on March 1, the uprising began in the southern city of Basra
. With this, the tides of revolt spread throughout Iraq, from the southern marshes to the Kurdish mountains.
s throughout the local population, feeding anti-Saddam sentiment to the people. It was also reported that a number of these opposition groups consisted of former regular Iraqi Army
soldiers who had served in Kuwait
during the Persian Gulf War. Earlier that day, soldiers returning from the front arrived in Karbala.
The revolt began at 2:30 PM when youths began riding through the streets with weapons, attacking government buildings and loyalist soldiers. This action provoked the population to come out of their homes with light arms and knives, known as "white weapons," to join in the attack. Such weapons became supplemented with heavier weapons captured from Baath Party
forces. The Holy Endowments administration building was the first to be sacked, followed by several others. The rebels also stormed the al-Husseini hospital and took over their wards. Many of the holy Shia shrine
s immediately became the main headquarters
for the insurgency, the main two being the Shrines of Husayn ibn Ali
and Al-Abbas ibn Ali.
Some of the local Baathist officials and top security agents, including the chief of police
and the deputy governor
, were killed in brutal ways since they did not retreat in time. Many of their bodies were left lying in their streets and often burned. On the loudspeaker
s from the Shia Shrines, insurgents called for prisoners to be brought to the Shrine of Abbas for execution. By morning, the city was under complete rebel control.
. However, U.S.
forces did not prevent Saddam from using overwhelming force to suppress the uprising. Karbala suffered severe artillery shelling and rebel holdouts were attacked with helicopter gunships, despite the official declaration of Iraqi no-fly zones
.
Iraqi Republican Guard encountered resistance as soon as they entered the city. As a result of the mostly-Sunni
Republican Guard's resentment of the Shiites, it was said that the tanks bore placards saying, “No More Shia After Today.” The main targets included the main Shia shrines and the al-Husseini hospital. At the hospital, doctors treated the wounded while people continually rushed in to donate blood and medicine, despite the concentrated shelling from the loyalist forces on the city outskirts. The rebels put up a stiff resistance in defending the hospital. Once it fell, the army rounded up doctors, nurses, and took them away for execution. Patients were thrown out of windows and reports surfaced of bulldozer
s burying bodies on the hospital grounds.
Throughout the counter attack, voices could be heard on loudspeakers at the shrines of Abbas and Hussein, directing orders for the insurgency to attack the Republican Guard. In the closing days of the uprising, the shrines were heavily damaged by artillery and rocket fire from helicopters. Many rebels and their civilian sympathizers barricaded themselves into the buildings. Video recordings show the people dancing in euphoria and calling for the aid of America and Iran, which never came. Once the loyalist forces surrounded the shrine, the leader of the assault and a henchman of Saddam, Kamal Hussein Majid, stood on a tank and shouted: "Your name is Hussein and so is mine. Let us see who is stronger now." He then gave the order to open fire on the shrine. After blowing down the doors, the Guard rushed in and killed a majority of those inside with automatic weapons fire.
Once in control of the city, the army encircled each district looking for young men. At first they shot whomever they saw. After a day or so, they arrested every male over the age of 15. Shia clerics found walking on the streets were rounded up and never seen again. Dead bodies were mined and they were not allowed to be removed from the streets. Helicopter gunships on the outskirts reportedly strafed
civilians fleeing the city as well.
to district, they rounded up young men suspected of being rebels, transported them to stadium
s where some were executed. Others were reportedly sent to a large detention facility outside Baghdad
. Such marks indicated that the uprising was officially suppressed.
and Abbas ibn Ali
, most of the buildings surrounding the shrines were completely reduced to rubble. The shrines themselves were scarred from bullet marks and tank fire. They were, however, quickly restored by the Shiite Donations.
In December 2005, workers maintaining water pipes 500 meters from the Imam Hussein Shrine unearthed a mass grave
containing dozens of bodies, apparently those of Shiites killed after the uprising.
Another mass grave was discovered on January 10, 2010 south of Karbala, containing 23 bodies of people from both sexes.
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
following the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
. The uprising started after demoralized troops throughout Iraq began to rebel against Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. From March 5 to March 19, 1991, the city of Karbala
Karbala
Karbala is a city in Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorate, and has an estimated population of 572,300 people ....
became chaotic battlefield between the insurgents and Iraqi Republican Guard
Iraqi Republican Guard
The Iraqi Republican Guard was a branch of the Iraqi military during the presidency of Saddam Hussein. It later became the Republican Guard Corps, and then the Republican Guard Forces Command with its expansion into two corps....
. After the failure of the uprising, citizens were killed in large numbers. Parts of the city were nearly leveled.
Prelude
In the years leading up to the Gulf War, the city of Karbala boasted over 150,000 inhabitants. Tourists from AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
all the way to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
flocked to the city as pilgrims
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
to the Imam Husayn Shrine
Imam Husayn Shrine
The Shrine of Husayn ibn ‘Alī is one of the oldest mosques on Earth and a holy site of Shīah Islām in the city of Karbalā, Iraq. It stands on the site of the grave of Husayn ibn ‘Alī, the second grandson of Muhammad, near the place where he was killed during the Battle of Karbalā in 680 C.E....
. In the months of the Gulf War, the city was carefully avoided by the Coalition
Coalition of the Gulf War
The Coalition of the Gulf War were the countries officially opposed to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait during the 1990 / 1991 Persian Gulf War.-Coalition by number of military personnel:-United States:*Norman Schwarzkopf*Colin Powell*Calvin Waller...
bombing campaign due to the significance of the city’s mosques. The city suffered little damage throughout the war in general.
In the days leading up to the uprising, it was believed by some that agents from Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
moved in amongst the population for the future channeling of Islamic revolution; an unsubstantiated claim which the Ba'athist regime was all too eager to propagate in their attempt to discredit the uprising. Finally, on March 1, the uprising began in the southern city of Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
. With this, the tides of revolt spread throughout Iraq, from the southern marshes to the Kurdish mountains.
March 5
Some of the opposition groups had already distributed pamphletPamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
s throughout the local population, feeding anti-Saddam sentiment to the people. It was also reported that a number of these opposition groups consisted of former regular Iraqi Army
Iraqi Army
The Iraqi Army is the land component of the Iraqi military, active in various forms since being formed by the British during their mandate over the country after World War I....
soldiers who had served in Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
during the Persian Gulf War. Earlier that day, soldiers returning from the front arrived in Karbala.
The revolt began at 2:30 PM when youths began riding through the streets with weapons, attacking government buildings and loyalist soldiers. This action provoked the population to come out of their homes with light arms and knives, known as "white weapons," to join in the attack. Such weapons became supplemented with heavier weapons captured from Baath Party
Baath Party
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was a political party mixing Arab nationalist and Arab socialist interests, opposed to Western imperialism, and calling for the renaissance or resurrection and unification of the Arab world into a single state. Ba'ath is also spelled Ba'th or Baath and means...
forces. The Holy Endowments administration building was the first to be sacked, followed by several others. The rebels also stormed the al-Husseini hospital and took over their wards. Many of the holy Shia shrine
Shrine
A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....
s immediately became the main headquarters
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
for the insurgency, the main two being the Shrines of Husayn ibn Ali
Husayn ibn Ali
Hussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā...
and Al-Abbas ibn Ali.
Some of the local Baathist officials and top security agents, including the chief of police
Chief of police
A Chief of Police is the title typically given to the top official in the chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. Alternate titles for this position include Commissioner, Superintendent, and Chief constable...
and the deputy governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
, were killed in brutal ways since they did not retreat in time. Many of their bodies were left lying in their streets and often burned. On the loudspeaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
s from the Shia Shrines, insurgents called for prisoners to be brought to the Shrine of Abbas for execution. By morning, the city was under complete rebel control.
March 6 through 11
There was great hope that the Saddam's regime would not be able to quell this rebellion without air power, which was blocked by the coalition forces as a condition of Gulf War ceasefireCeasefire
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces...
. However, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
forces did not prevent Saddam from using overwhelming force to suppress the uprising. Karbala suffered severe artillery shelling and rebel holdouts were attacked with helicopter gunships, despite the official declaration of Iraqi no-fly zones
Iraqi no-fly zones
The Iraqi no-fly zones were a set of two separate no-fly zones , and were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom and France after the Gulf War of 1991 to protect the Kurdish people in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south. Iraqi aircraft were forbidden from flying inside the zones...
.
Iraqi Republican Guard encountered resistance as soon as they entered the city. As a result of the mostly-Sunni
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
Republican Guard's resentment of the Shiites, it was said that the tanks bore placards saying, “No More Shia After Today.” The main targets included the main Shia shrines and the al-Husseini hospital. At the hospital, doctors treated the wounded while people continually rushed in to donate blood and medicine, despite the concentrated shelling from the loyalist forces on the city outskirts. The rebels put up a stiff resistance in defending the hospital. Once it fell, the army rounded up doctors, nurses, and took them away for execution. Patients were thrown out of windows and reports surfaced of bulldozer
Bulldozer
A bulldozer is a crawler equipped with a substantial metal plate used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc., during construction work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device to loosen densely-compacted materials.Bulldozers can be found on a wide range of sites,...
s burying bodies on the hospital grounds.
Throughout the counter attack, voices could be heard on loudspeakers at the shrines of Abbas and Hussein, directing orders for the insurgency to attack the Republican Guard. In the closing days of the uprising, the shrines were heavily damaged by artillery and rocket fire from helicopters. Many rebels and their civilian sympathizers barricaded themselves into the buildings. Video recordings show the people dancing in euphoria and calling for the aid of America and Iran, which never came. Once the loyalist forces surrounded the shrine, the leader of the assault and a henchman of Saddam, Kamal Hussein Majid, stood on a tank and shouted: "Your name is Hussein and so is mine. Let us see who is stronger now." He then gave the order to open fire on the shrine. After blowing down the doors, the Guard rushed in and killed a majority of those inside with automatic weapons fire.
Once in control of the city, the army encircled each district looking for young men. At first they shot whomever they saw. After a day or so, they arrested every male over the age of 15. Shia clerics found walking on the streets were rounded up and never seen again. Dead bodies were mined and they were not allowed to be removed from the streets. Helicopter gunships on the outskirts reportedly strafed
Strafing
Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. This means, that although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is very often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire, the term "strafing" does not specifically include the...
civilians fleeing the city as well.
March 19
Soldiers took vengeance on both rebels and civilians who had not fled. Moving from districtDistrict
Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...
to district, they rounded up young men suspected of being rebels, transported them to stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
s where some were executed. Others were reportedly sent to a large detention facility outside Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. Such marks indicated that the uprising was officially suppressed.
Aftermath
Reports indicated that no neighborhood was left intact after the uprising. In the vicinity of the shrines of Husayn ibn AliHusayn ibn Ali
Hussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā...
and Abbas ibn Ali
Abbas ibn Ali
Al-‘Abbās ibn ‘Ali was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib and fourth Rashidun Caliph) and Fātimah bint Hizam al-Kilabiyyah .Al-‘Abbās is revered by Muslims for his loyalty to his half-brother Husayn ibn ‘Alī, his respect for the...
, most of the buildings surrounding the shrines were completely reduced to rubble. The shrines themselves were scarred from bullet marks and tank fire. They were, however, quickly restored by the Shiite Donations.
In December 2005, workers maintaining water pipes 500 meters from the Imam Hussein Shrine unearthed a mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
containing dozens of bodies, apparently those of Shiites killed after the uprising.
Another mass grave was discovered on January 10, 2010 south of Karbala, containing 23 bodies of people from both sexes.
See also
- Battle of KarbalaBattle of KarbalaThe Battle of Karbala took place on Muharram 10, in the year 61 of the Islamic calendar in Karbala, in present day Iraq. On one side of the highly uneven battle were a small group of supporters and relatives of Muhammad's grandson Husain ibn Ali, and on the other was a large military detachment...
- 1991 Uprising in As Sulaymaniyah1991 Uprising in As SulaymaniyahThe 1991 Uprising in As Sulaymaniyah or Silêmanî was one of biggest 1991 uprisings in Iraq. As Sulaymaniyah, a Kurdish city of over 100,000 population was the first Iraqi city to be captured by rebels and the last one to fall.-Prelude:...
- List of conflicts in the Middle East
- Iran-Iraq WarIran-Iraq WarThe Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the twentieth century...
- Gulf WarGulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
- Iraqi Shia revolts 1935-1936