Halabja is a very ancient town, dating back to the Lullubis era. The ancient city of Khar Khar (2000 BC) is believed to be today’s Halabja. In 641, the Islamic Army freed the town from the Sassanid Empire and became a part of the Muslim Empire. During the Abbasid Caliphate, between 959-1015 AD, the princedom of Hassnawya reigned the town, followed by the reign of the princedom of Annazi between 1016-1117 AD. Finally, the Dukes reconstructed the town in 1650 near the present Takya mosque. Then, in 1889, it became a part of the Ottoman Empire.
On March 16th, 1988, during the closing days of the Iran–Iraq War, after the uprising and freedom of Halabja from the Ba’ath regime, the Iraqi Army’s planes dropped chemical weapons, killing at least 5,000 people immediately. The incident was the largest chemical weapons attack directed against a civilian-populated area in history,
Parking location – Halabja: 35.190082N 45.972819E (🚻,💦)