 Talabani established an alliance with Iran, permitting it to conduct a military incursion into northern Iraq aimed at the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran on 28 July.In response, Barzani asked for assistance from the Iraqi government who, seeing an opportunity to retake northern Iraq, accepted.On 31 August, 30,000 Iraqi troops, spearheaded by an armored division of the Iraqi Republican Guard, attacked the PUK-held city of Erbil, which was defended by 3,000 PUK Peshmerga led by Korsat Rasul Ali, in conjunction with KDP forces.