WITH MARiNES IN OPERATION PROVIDE COMFORT                             49


                                                        Photograph by flic author
An abandoned Iraqi..Beau Geste" fortress silently guards Highway 6 leading from the fiabur
border crossing to the iraqi provincial capital of Dohuk. Similar fortresses occupied most key
terrain throughout Iraqi Ku rdis tan.

Attamim, Salahadin, and Diyala Provinces.60 Iraqi Kurdistan now was located
in the coarse highlands where mountain peaks read~ed 12,000 feet and highland
valleys rose as high as 4,000 feet. Many small streams and several large rivers
traversed the region. One of these, the Hazil-su branch of the Khabur River, part
of the Tigris River's secondary tributary system, marked Iraq's northwestern
border  with Turkey.     Kurdistan's cities included Erbil, Kirkuk, Mosul,
Sulaymaniyah, Zakho, and Dohuk.

                           The Area of Operations

   The main avenue of approach into Iraq was the Zakho Corridor, a fruitful
plain several miles wide cut only by the narrow Hazil River. Dohuk Province
was located at the eastern tip of this lush valley where Iraq abutted the Turkish
border. The city of Zakho, home to more than 50,000 people before the troubles,
was built around a rocky island in the Khabur River, only six miles from the
Turkish border. Zakho was a famous stronghold where ancient Kurds battled
Xenophon's Greeks, Alexander's Macedonians, and Roman Legions before the