He was born in 1913 in Ammar, southern Iraq, to Kurdish parents. After the death of his father at the age of seven months, he moved with his mother to his uncle's house and grew up there. Later they moved to Sulaymaniyah.
In 1928, Arif entered the military college and became a friend of King Ghazi of Iraq. In 1941, Arif became a regiment commander at Mansour military base with the rank of colonel.
He then temporarily devoted himself to the post of governor of Karbala, where he was promoted to lieutenant.
Fuad Arif played an important role in calming the conflict between Abdul Karim Qassim and Abdul Salam Arif, and for a while held the post of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and later held several senior positions such as deputy president and chief of army staff.
He died on #05-06-2010# in Sulaymaniyah.[1]