ERBIL — Kurdish prominent leader Masoud Barzani released a statement on Tuesday to remember the victims of a 1985 airstrike by the Baath Regime against the Kurdish refugees in Iran.

On 9th June 1985, eight warplanes of then Iraqi regime carried out multiple airstrikes to target Zewa refugee camp, home to hundreds of Iraqi Kurds. The women, men, and children had fled Iraq to Iran after Saddam Hussein stepped up his genocidal attacks on the Kurdish population.

“The Zewa massacre is a black page [in the history] of the state of Iraq, and it shall never be forgotten,” said Barzani. “Those who heard the scream of the injured, and saw the mutilated bodies of the martyrs of Zewa, would then see the Iraqi regime’s brutality better.”

However, the Kurdish leader said, no matter how strong is the enemy, it can never defeat the will of Kurds for freedom.