“The Australian Embassy in Iraq extends its respects to the victims and survivors of the horrific 1988 bombardment of Halabja. We commemorate those who lost their lives and commend the incredible strength and perseverance demonstrated by the community of Halabja,” Miles said in an exclusive message to Rudaw.
“Australia's commitment to the eradication of chemical weapons is founded in the memory of the many casualties of chemical weapons used in conflicts around the world,” he added.
On the last days of the eight-year-long war between Iran and Iraq, warplanes of the former regime of Saddam Hussein rained down a lethal cocktail of chemical weapons on the city of Halabja on March 16, 1988, killing at least 5,000 people, mostly women and children, and injuring hundreds of others.
The Halabja chemical attack, which was recognized as an act of genocide by Iraq's High Court in 2010, has left a permanent scar in the historical memory of the Kurdish people.
The attack was part of a longer genocidal campaign against Iraq’s Kurds by the Baathist regime that continues to resonate in the mind of Kurds to this day.
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