جلال طالباني
After the Algiers Agreement, the KDP withdrew from Iraq and based itself in Iran and Turkey, while the Kurdish areas in Iraq fell under Iraqi Army followed by widespread arabization. Meanwhile, Jalal Talabani formed PUK from his exile in Syria, in protest against perceived "inability of the feudalist, tribalist, bourgeois, rightist and capitulationist Kurdish [KDP] leadership". From Syria, Jalal Talabani instructed followers to get rid of KDP. KDP leadership under Sami Abd al-Rahman and Idris Barzani, still recuperating from the massive sudden down-turn and in no mood to deal softly with internal enemies, were aware of these general instructions from Talabani and preemptively ambushed and killed dozens of PUK fighters on 3 occasions while PUK were also accused of killing numerous high-ranking Barzanis. Jalal Talabani was now even more insistent on eliminating KDP forces, while Ali Askari who had limited but direct contact with KDP, was urging him that Saddam Hussein was the only enemy and Kurdish infighting must be abandoned.