Babaker Shawkat B. Zebari

Babaker Bader Khan Shawkat Zebari (Arabic بابا كر بدرخان شوكت زيباري ) is an Iraqi- Kurdish general in the new Iraqi army. Since 2007 he is the highest-ranking commander of the Iraqi army.

Military training

The general military training and experience of Babakir encloses the air defense, air combat, close combat, defensive combat, ground combat and special operations.

Career

Babakir began his military career in 1970 in the Iraqi army, after graduating from the Military Academy Rustamiyah in Baghdad. In the military academy he learned to use the air defense artillery. He was quickly promoted to commander of the Iraqi air defense and ( Israeli- Iraqi conflict ) used near the border with Jordan. From 1971 to 1973 General Babakir was a leading commander of the Iraqi army and was in charge of military technical positions in Baghdad, Taji and Habiniyah.

The new Arab Socialist Baath Party under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, for operation against the Iraqi Kurds a policy of ethnic cleansing. Since Babakir was of Kurdish origin, he left because of this policy of the government in 1973, the army and joined the Kurdish resistance under the leadership of Mullah Mustafa Barzani at. Since 1973, General Babakir fought with Kurdish Peshmerga together in Galala ( Dohuk ) against the Iraqi army. Babakir was promoted to deputy commander of the Kurdish air defense battalion. Since 1975 he was assigned as the highest-ranking commander of the Kurdish air defense brigade in Ammadiyah.

After the Treaty of Algiers and the defeat of the Kurds sought Babakir and his family took refuge in the Iranian- Kurdish areas. In 1979 Babakir returned to Iraq and joined again the Kurdish rebels. He was appointed commander of the Kurdish army and a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party ( KDP ). In 1989 Babakir was a member of the Central Committee of the DPK. Between 1980 and 1991 stood Babakir in the region Shekhan and Akre as commander of air defense in the autonomous region of Kurdistan. In 1991, General Babakir was the commander in chief of all Kurdish forces in the region of Dohuk and Mosul, and took part after the second Gulf War in the uprising against the government. During the Iraq War in 2003, General Babakir had an important role in supporting the coalition forces in the region. In 2003 Babakir was Commanding General and Chief of Staff of the Iraqi army. General Babakir is fluent in Kurdish, Arabic and Persian.

Medal and Award

• Barzani Award (the highest award Kurdish )
• Legion of Merit (United States)