Led by the Pasdaran and supported by some regular army forces, the five-phase operation marked a shift in Iranian focus from from southern to northern Iraq.

[4] Launched with the code of "Ya Rasūl Allāh (s)" (Persian: (یا رسول الله (ص)[5] (likewise "Ya Muhammad ibn Abdullah"),[6][7][1] Operation Dawn-10[8][9] was executed on the west heights overlooking Darbandikhan Lake in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate in Iraq[5] with the operational goal of preparing a full-on assault on the Darbandikhan Dam.

[10] [11] Iranian forces quickly encircled their main objectives with ease, and the Iraqis did not have the time to reinforce the threatened area.

The offensive forced Iraq to divert important divisions from the south to the northern Iraqi mountains, disrupting the overall war effort.

To punish Kurds involved in the battle, Saddam ordered the Iraqi military to chemically bombard Halabja the next day, killing thousands of civilians and destroying the town.