Khomeini's 1979 Fatwa: A Turning Point in the Conflict Between Iran and Its Kurdish Minority

The fatwa had immediate and devastating consequences. It unleashed a wave of violence and repression in Kurdistan. Government forces, with their newfound religious mandate, carried out a brutal campaign to crush the rebellion. There were reports of mass arrests, summary executions, and widespread human rights abuses. The conflict was not a conventional war; it was a counter-insurgency campaign marked by its ferocity and the blurring of lines between combatants and civilians.