The Battle of Charah took place on 16-17 March 1918, around the stronghold of Chahriq between the Assyrian volunteers led by general Agha Petros and Malik Khoshaba, against Shekak tribesmen led by the Kurdish tribal leader Simko Shikak, who was responsible for the assassination of the Assyrian patriarch Shimun XIX Benyamin.
Background
On 3 March 1918, the Assyrian patriarch Mar Shimun and most of his 150 bodyguards were assassinated by Simko Shikak, a Kurdish tribal leader, in the town of Kuhnashahir, Salmas under a truce flag. Upon receiving the news of the assassination, the Assyrians massacred 500 Kurdish refugees in an Anti-Kurdish pogrom in the city of Urmia. Some sources estimate that perhaps 10,000 Kurds and Azerbaijani Turks were killed at the hands of the Assyrians during this period of instability.
Simko had initially established an alliance with the local Azerbaijani forces, prompting the governor-general of Iranian Azerbaijan to assemble all the available troops and station them on the outskirts of Charah to protect Simko, although the Azerbaijani's were not present on March 16 (day of the battle).
Battle
Prelude
Following the death of the patriarch Mar Shimun, general Agha Petros and Malik Khoshaba, together with Dawid Mar Shimun, mobilized an army of two columns, which consisted of an estimated 7,000 "mountain-dwellers", in pursuit of Simko Shikak. A detachment of 3,000 soldiers was first dispatched to the city of Kuhnashahir, where they razed down Simko's castle, looted the city, and killed a large number of the non-Kurdish Azerbaijani inhabitants.
The organized Assyrian force marched over the districts of Brodosnai and Somai, defeating Simko's outposts in multiple small-scale engagements.
Attack on Charah
On 16 March 1918, the Assyrian force would attack the fortress of Charah. After 36 hours of fighting, Simko was defeated and many of his people were killed. The fortress was subsequently captured by the Assyrians, but Simko himself, realizing that he could no longer resist the attack, managed to escape with 500 of his bodyguards to the city of Khoy.
Malik Yaqo, an Assyrian military officer who witnessed the events, recounted that parts of the river in Charah were turning red from the blood of human and animal corpses, and that the number of dead Assyrians reached 48.
Aftermath
The Kurds suffered heavy casualties, whereas Simko's mother and niece, the daughter of Jafar Agha, were reportedly captured by the victorious Assyrian force and taken to Urmia. The Charah fortress was sacked and looted; the Assyrians consequently discovered several documents and letters from Persian officials, including the governor of Iranian Azerbaijan, inciting Simko to rise up against the Christians and assassinate Mar Shimun.
In order to compensate for their failure in capturing Simko, the Assyrians burnt down Kurdish villages in the region and killed the inhabitants. The chain of events seriously damaged Assyrian national aspirations. When Simko arrived at Khoy, he took his revenge by massacring approximately 3,800 Armenian and Assyrian women and children, many of whom forcibly accepted Islam.