The HISTORY OF IRAN -IRAQ WAR
Vani Nalliah
The war began when Iraq invaded Iran on 22 September 1980 following a long history of border disputes and fears of Shia insurgency influenced by Khomeini's Islamic republic. Although the Iraqis attacked without formal warning, they failed to make progress and were soon repelled by the Iranians. Despite several calls for a ceasefire by the United Nations Security Council, hostilities continued until 20 August 1988; the last prisoners of war were exchanged in 2003. The war altered regional and even global politics.
The war is also noted for being very similar to World War I. Tactics used included trench warfare, manned machine-gun posts, bayonet charges, use of barbed wire , human wave attacks and Iraq's extensive use of chemical weapons (such as mustard gas) against Iranian troops and civilians as well as Iraqi Kurds. It is believed that more than a million Iraqi and Iranian soldiers as well as civilians died in the war with many more injured and wounded.
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Background
Early history
Although the Iran-Iraq war from 1980–1988 was a war for dominance of the Persian Gulf region, the roots of the war go back many centuries. There has been rivalry between kingdoms of Mesopotamia (the Tigris-Euphrates valley, modern Iraq ) and the rugged highlands to the East ( Persia or modern Iran) since the beginning of recorded history in Sumer.
![Iranian soldiers landing from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter in the northern front of the war. The war (according to one estimate) resulted[citation needed] in US$350 billion in damages to Iran alone.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jang2.jpg)
More precisely, the origins of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980–1988 go back to the question of sovereignty over the resource-rich province of Khuzestan. Before the Ottoman empire 1299-1922, Iraq was part of Persia. The rising power of the Ottomans put an end to this when Suleyman I annexed Arabian Iraq. The Turkish Sultan and general, Murad IV recaptured Baghdad from the Safavids of Persia in 1638 via the Treaty of Zuhab. The border disputes between Persia and the Ottomans never ended. Between 1555 and 1918, Persia and the Ottoman empire signed no fewer than 18 treaties delineating their disputed borders. But, today's border comes from the Treaty of Zuhab (Peace of Qasr-e-Shirin). Modern Iraq was created with British take over in the region and the final collapse of the Ottoman empire following the First World War, thereby inheriting all the disputes with Persia.
Post-colonial era
On 18 December 1959, the new leader of Iraq Abdul Karim Qassim, declared: "We do not wish to refer to the history of Arab tribes residing in Al-Ahwaz and Mohammareh [Khorramshahr]. The Ottomans handed over Mohammareh, which was part of Iraqi territory, to Iran." The Iraqi regime's dissatisfaction with Iran's possession of the oil-rich Khuzestan province was not limited to rhetorical statements; Iraq began supporting secessionist movements in Khuzestan, and even raised the issue of its territorial claims at the next meeting of the Arab League, without success. Iraq showed reluctance in fulfilling existing agreements with Iran—especially after the death of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the rise of the Ba'ath Party, when Iraq decided to take on the role of "leader of the Arab world".
In 1969, the deputy prime minister of Iraq stated: "Iraq's dispute with Iran is in connection with Arabistan (Khuzestan ) which is part of Iraq's soil and was annexed to Iran during foreign rule. " Soon Iraqi radio stations began exclusively broadcasting into "Arabistan", encouraging Arabs living in Iran and even Balūchīs to revolt against the Shah of Iran's government. Basra TV stations even began showing Iran's Khuzestan province as part of Iraq's new province called Nasiriyyah, renaming all Iranian cities with Arabic names.
In 1971, Iraq broke diplomatic relations with Iran after claiming sovereignty rights over the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb in the Persian Gulf, following the withdrawal of the British. Iraq then expropriated the properties of 70,000 Iranians and expelled them from its territory, after complaining to the Arab League and the UN without success.
One of the factors contributing to hostility between the two powers was a dispute over full control of the Shatt al-Arab waterway at the head of the Persian Gulf, an important channel for the oil exports of both countries.
In addition to Iraq's fomenting of separatism in Iran's Khuzestan and Iranian Balochistan provinces, both countries encouraged separatist activities by Kurdish nationalists in the other country.
In 1974 Iraq attacked Iranian forces, with heavy casualties on both sides.[ citation needed] In 1975, United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had sanctioned Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to attack Iraq over the waterway, then under Iraqi control; [ citation needed ] soon afterward, both nations signed the Algiers Accord, where Iraq made territorial concessions — including the waterway — in exchange for normalized relations.
The relationship between Iranian and Iraqi governments briefly improved in 1978, when Iranian agents in Iraq discovered a pro-Soviet coup d'etat against the Iraqi government. When informed of this plot, Saddam Hussein, who was Vice President at the time, ordered the execution of dozens of his army officers, and to return the favor, expelled Ruhollah Khomeini, an exiled leader of clerical opposition to the Shah, from Iraq.
After the Islamic Revolution
- See also: Islamic Revolution and Iranian Embassy Siege
The Pan-Islamism and revolutionary Shia Islamism of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Republic of Iran; and the Arab nationalism of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime were central to the conflict.
Saddam Hussein was keenly interested in elevating Iraq to a strong regional power. A successful invasion of Iran would enlarge Iraq's oil reserves and make Iraq the dominant power in the Persian Gulf region.
On several occasions Saddam alluded to the Islamic conquest of Iran in propagating his position against Iran. For example, on 2 April 1980, half a year before the outbreak of the war, in a visit by Saddam to al-Mustansiriyyah University in Baghdad, drawing parallels with the 7th century defeat of Persia in the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah, he announced:
In your name, brothers, and on behalf of the Iraqis and Arabs everywhere we tell those Persian cowards and dwarfs who try to avenge Al-Qadisiyah that the spirit of Al-Qadisiyah as well as the blood and honor of the people of Al-Qadisiyah who carried the message on their spearheads are greater than their attempts." [3]
In turn the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini believed Muslims, particularly the Shias in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, who he saw as oppressed, could and should follow the Iranian example, rise up against their governments to join a united Islamic republic. [4] Khomeini and Iran's Islamic revolutionaries despised Saddam's secularist, Arab nationalist Ba'athist regime in particular as un-Islamic and "a puppet of Satan," [5] and called on Iraqis to overthrow Saddam and his regime. [6] At the same time severe officer purges (including several executions ordered by Sadegh Khalkhali, the post-revolution sharia ruler), and spare parts shortages for Iran's American-made equipment, had crippled Iran's once mighty military. The bulk of the Iranian military was made up of poorly armed, though committed, militias. Iran had minimal defenses in the Shatt al-Arab river. This along with its antagonistic position with the West made it a tempting target to Saddam Hussein's expansionism. In particular he felt that Iranian Sunni citizens would rather join a powerful Sunni-led Iraq than remain in the Shia-dominated Iran. [ citation needed]
Iraq started the war believing that Sunnis of Iran would join the opposing forces, failing to fully appreciate the power of Iranian nationalism over historically clan-centered differences, and the power of Iranian government control of the press. Few of the ethnic Arabs of Khuzestan or Sunnis of Iran collaborated with Iraqis.
Iran's embassy in London was attacked by Iraqi-sponsored terrorist forces a few months prior to the war in 1980, in what came to be known as the Iranian Embassy Siege. [ citation needed]
The UN Secretary General report dated 9 December 1991 (S/23273) explicitly cites "Iraq's aggression against Iran" in starting the war and breaching International security and peace. [7]
Timeline
September 1980: Iraqi invasion
Iraq declared war on September 17, 1980. In a statement addressed to the Iraqi parliament, Saddam Hussein stated that "The frequent and blatant Iranian violations of Iraqi sovereignty...have rendered the 1975 Algiers Agreement null and void. This river...must have its Iraqi-Arab identity restored as it was throughout history in name and in reality with all the disposed rights emanating from full sovereignty over the river." .
The initial aim of Iraq was to capture the Arvand-Rud (Shatt al-Arab) waterway. To this end, Saddam told his generals to capture the Iranian province of Khuzestan, and prepare significant defenses along the front-line. Saddam was hoping to show the world the limited nature of his invasion by demonstrating that he was only interested in the Arvand-Rud waterway.
As part of this plan, Saddam planned to launch a number of offensives across the length and breadth of the Iran-Iraqi border. Iraq had mobilized 10 divisions for the invasion,while Iran countered with only 8 regular army divisions and one brigade. Of these divisions, only four of those were deployed to the border. [ citation needed] Iran's newly instated Islamic regime had little trust in the regular army, believing that they were a threat to the revolutionary regime. Consequently, the Iranian government attempted to boost the capabilities of militia groups, chiefly the Pasdaran and the Basij.
The two nations severed diplomatic relations in June 1980, and sporadic border clashes increased. On September 18, Iraq declared the Shatt al-Arab to be part of its territory. Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran on September 22, 1980, claiming as a pretext an Iranian assassination attempt on Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz.
Objectives of Iraq's invasion of Iran were:
- Control over the Shatt al-Arab waterway
- Acquisition of the three islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, on the behalf of the UAE.
- Annexation of Khuzestan to Iraq
- Overthrow of the revolutionary regime in Tehran
The surprise offensive advanced quickly against the still disorganized Iranian forces, advancing on a wide front into Iranian territory along the Mehran- Khorramabad axis in central Iran and towards Ahvaz in the oil-rich southern province of Khuzestan.
The invasion stalls
The Iraqi invasion soon encountered unexpected resistance, however. A preemptive strike executed by the Iraqi Air Force on the first day of the war successfully destroyed parts of Iran's airbase infrastructure, but failed to destroy a significant number of aircraft. The IRaF was only able to strike in depth with a few MiG-23BN, Tu-22 and Su-20 aircraft, ineffective in a country as large as Iran. When three MiG-23BN's flew over Tehran, attacked its airport, but destroyed only a few aircraft, F-4s successfully repelled their attack. [citation needed] Over the next day dozens of Iranian F-4s attacked Iraqi targets, and in a few days the IRIAF gained air superiority over IRaF, allowing them to conduct ground attack missions with fighter-bombers and helicopters.
Also, rather than turning against the Ayatollah's government as exiles had promised, the people of Iran rallied around their country and mounted a stiff resistance. An estimated 200,000 additional troops arrived at the front by November, many of them "ideologically committed" volunteers. [8] The Iraqis soon found the Iranian military was not nearly as depleted as they had thought.
By June 1982, an Iranian counter-offensive had recovered the areas lost to Iraq earlier in the war. An especially significant battle of this counter-offensive in the Khuzestan province was the liberation of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis on May 24, 1982.
Iraq retreats; Iran invades Iraq
Saddam Hussein, realising that he had no realistic hope of remaining in Iran , ordered his troops to withdraw to the international border between Iran and Iraq. He believed that his battered army would only be able to fight knowing that it was fighting for the homeland, and that they could rely upon the static defenses which had been built.
He announced that, for humanitarian reasons, he was withdrawing his army from Iran in order to help Lebanon, which had been invaded by Israel on 6 June 1982. He asked the Iranians to consider the plight of the Lebanese, although Saddam would obviously have been more concerned about avoiding an Iranian attack than the threat faced by Lebanon, and to make peace.
However, not only did the Iranians refuse to make peace, they also increased their demands. Aside from the removal of the Saddam Hussein regime, they demanded $150 billion in war reparations and the repatriation of 100,000 Shi'ites expelled from Iraq before the war.
It is unlikely that anyone in Iran seriously expected that Iraq would accept these terms; and only offered them as a way of getting Saddam to refuse peace, thus making him continue to look like the aggressor. In fact, many within the Iranian government were demanding that the war be expanded into Iraq. On 21 June, Khomeini hinted that the expulsion of Iraqi troops would not be followed by a cessation of Iranian attacks, but by an invasion of Iraq. The following day, the Iranian Chief-of-Staff Shirazi said that the war would continue "until Saddam Hussein is overthrown so that we can pray at the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala and Najaf
This statement was not long in being fulfilled. On 13 July, the Iranians crossed the border, in force, aiming towards the city of Basra, the second most important city in Iraq.
Iranian offensive blunders, as Iraqi resolve hardens
However, in this offensive, the Iranians encountered an Iraqi enemy which had entrenched itself in formidable defences. Unlike the hastily improvised defences that the Iraqis had manned in Iran during the 1980-1981 occupation of the conquered territories, the border defences were, by necessity, well developed even before the war; and the Iraqis were able to utilise a highly-developed network of bunkers and artillery fire-bases. Saddam had also doubled the size of the Iraqi army from 1981, 200,000 soldiers (12 divisions and 3 independent brigades), to 500,000 in 1985 (23 divisions and nine brigades).
The efforts of Saddam bore fruit. Iran had been using combined-arms operations to great effect when it was attacking the Iraqi troops in its country, and had launched the iconic human-wave attacks with great support from artillery, aircraft, and tanks. However, the increasingly strained army-Pasdaran relations meant that the Iranians were now launching human-wave assaults, with no support from other branches of the military. The superior defences of the Iraqis meant that tens of thousands of Iranian soldiers were lost in most operations after 1982, and the Iraqi defences would continue to hold in most sectors.
In the Basra offensive, five human-wave attacks were met with withering fire from the Iraqis. The boy-soldiers of the Basij were particularly hard-hit, especially since they were ordered to run into minefields, in order to clear the way for the Pasdaran brigades behind them. The Iranians were also hard-hit by the employment of gas by the Iraqis.
1983-1985: Iraq battered, but not beaten
After the failure of their 1982 summer offensives, Iran believed that a major effort along the entire breadth of the front line would yield the victory that the Iranians desired. Perhaps, if Iran had acted on its numerical superiority, it might have been able to have achieved a break-through if it had launched an attack across all parts of the front-line at the same time. However, the organisation for that type of conflict was still lacking. Although some degree of co-operation between the Pasdaran and the regular army had been reached - meaning the Iranian militias could now rely upon some support - it was not enough.
During the course of 1983, the Iranians would launch five major assaults along the front, none meeting with substantial success. Khomeini's position on a truce was unchanged. "There are no conditions. The only condition is that the regime in Baghdad must fall and must be replaced by an Islamic Republic." [9]
Saddam had hoped that the mounting casualties, and the lack of progress, would force the Iranians to accept peace. However, in early 1984, the Khomeini government again re-iterated their demands for the overthrow of the Ba'ath regime. Saddam realised that a more aggressive posture would be needed to entice the Iranians to the bargaining table. He declared that eleven Iranian cities would come under attack unless Iran halted their acts of aggression by 7 February 1984.
As a way of demonstrating their answer to this ultimatum, the Iranians launched an attack against Iraqi forces along the northern sector of the front line. Although this was a minor attack, Saddam stuck to his pledge, and ordered aerial and missile attacks against the eleven cities that he had designated. The bombardment ceased on 22 February. This attack was soon followed by retaliation by Iran against urban centres as well. These exchanges become known as the first 'war of the cities'. There would be five throughout the course of the war.
The attack on the Iranian cities did not destroy the resolve of the Iranian government to fight. On 15 February, the Iranians launched a major attack against the central section of the front line, where the Second Iraqi Army Corps was deployed. 250,000 Iranians were facing 250,000 Iraqis. Of the 250,000 Iranians committed, 190,000 of those were Pasdaran and Basij soldiers, with only 60,000 regular troops engaged in the operation. However, the offensive did fall under army control, and was planned by the regular military.
From 15 to 22 February, in Operation Dawn 5, and 22 to 24 February, in Operation Dawn 6, the Iranians attempted to capture the vital town of Kut al-Amara, and to move to cut the key highway linking Baghdad and Basra. If the road had been captured, the Iraqis ability to supply and co-ordinate the defenses would have been extremely difficult. However, the Iranian forces could only come within 15 miles of the highway.
However, Operation Khaibar met with much greater success. The operation involved a number of thrusts towards the key Iraqi city of Basra. The operation started on the 24th February, and lasted until the 19th March. The Iraqi defences, having been under continuous strain since 15 February, seemed close to being conclusively broken. The Iraqis were able to stabilise the front, but not before the Iranians captured part of the Majnun Islands. Despite a heavy counter-attack by the Iraqis, coupled with the use of mustard gas and sarin nerve gas, the Iranians held their gains and would continue to hold them almost until the end of the war. [10]
January 1985 - February 1986: Abortive offensives by Iran and Iraq
Saddam, with his armed forces now benefiting from the influx of material and financial support from Western powers such as the United States of America and France, went on the offensive for the first time since late 1980, on 28 January 1985. However, the offensive did not produce any significant gains, and the Iranians responded in kind with their own offensive on 11 March 1985, directed against Basra, which was codenamed Operation Badr. By this time, the failure of the unsupported human-wave attacks during 1984 meant that Iran was trying to develop a better working relationship between the army and the Pasdaran. The Iranian government also worked on moulding the Pasdaran units into a much more conventional fighting force. The attack did succeed in capturing a part of the Baghdad-Basra highway, the highway which had proved elusive during Operation Dawn 5 and Operation Dawn 6 . Saddam responded to this strategic emergency by launching chemical attacks against the Iranian positions along the highway, and by initiating the second 'war of the cities', with a massive air and missile campaign against twenty Iranian towns, including Tehran.
The Tanker War and direct U.S. support for Iraq
Starting in 1981, Iran and Iraq attacked oil tankers and merchant ships, including those of neutral nations, in an effort to deprive each other of trade. After Iraqi attacks on Iran's main oil export facility on Khark Island, Iran attacked a Kuwaiti tanker near Bahrain on May 13, 1984, and a Saudi tanker in Saudi waters on May 16. Attacks on ships of noncombatant nations in the Persian Gulf sharply increased thereafter. This phase of the conflict was dubbed the "Tanker War."
In 1982 with Iranian success on the battlefield, the U.S. made its backing of Iraq more pronounced, supplying it with intelligence, economic aid, normalizing relations with the government (broken during the 1967 Six-Day War), and also supplying weapons. [12] President Ronald Reagan decided that the United States "could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran", and that the United States "would do whatever was necessary to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran." [13] President Reagan formalized this policy by issuing a National Security Decision Directive ("NSDD") to this effect in June, 1982. [14]
Lloyd's of London, a British insurance market, estimated that the Tanker War damaged 546 commercial vessels and killed about 430 civilian mariners. The largest portion of the attacks were directed by Iran against Kuwaiti vessels, and on November 1, 1986, Kuwait formally petitioned foreign powers to protect its shipping. The Soviet Union agreed to charter tankers starting in 1987, and the United States offered to provide protection for tankers flying the U.S. flag on March 7, 1987 ( Operation Earnest Will and Operation Prime Chance). Under international law, an attack on such ships would be treated as an attack on the United States, allowing the U.S. Navy to retaliate. This support would protect neutral ships headed to Iraqi ports, effectively guaranteeing Iraq's revenue stream for the duration of the war.
On May 17, an Iraqi plane attacked, the USS Stark (FFG 31) , a Perry class frigate, killing 37 and injuring 21. [15] However, U.S. attention was focused on isolating Iran, it criticized Iran's mining of international waters, and sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 598, which passed unanimously on July 20, under which it skirmished with Iranian forces. During the Operation Nimble Archer in October 1987, the U.S. attacked Iranian oil platforms in retaliation for an Iranian attack on the U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti tanker Sea Isle City. [16]
On April 14, 1988, the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts was badly damaged by an Iranian mine however it didn't suffer any casualties. U.S. forces responded with Operation Praying Mantis on April 18, the United States Navy 's largest engagement of surface warships since World War II. Two Iranian oil platforms, two Iranian ships and six Iranian gunboats were destroyed. an American helicopter also crashed most likely accidentally. [17]
In the course of these escorts by the U.S. Navy, the cruiser USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 with the loss of all 290 passengers and crew on July 3, 1988. The American government claimed that the airliner had been mistaken for an Iranian F-14 Tomcat, and that the Vincennes was operating in international waters at the time and feared that it was under attack. [18] The Iranians, however, maintain that the Vincennes was in fact in Iranian territorial waters, and that the Iranian passenger jet was turning away and increasing altitude after take-off. U.S. Admiral William J. Crowe also admitted on Nightline that the Vincennes was inside Iranian territorial waters when it launched the missiles. [19] The U.S. eventually paid compensation for the incident ($131,800,000)), but never apologized. [citation needed ]
Toward the end of the war, the land conflict regressed into stalemate largely because neither side had enough self-propelled artillery or airpower to support ground advances.
The relatively professional Iraqi armed forces could not make headway against the far more numerous Iranian infantry. The Iranians were outmatched in towed and self-propelled artillery, which left their tanks and troops vulnerable. What followed was the Iranians substituting infantry for artillery.
Iraq's air force soon began strategic bombing against Iranian cities, chiefly Tehran, starting in 1985. To minimize losses from the superior Iranian Air Force Iraq rapidly switched to Scud and Al-Hussein improved Scud launches. In response, Iran began retailated with Scud missiles against Baghdad, acquired from Libya and Syria. Iraq in all launched 520 Scuds and Al-Husseins against Iran, receiving only 177 in exchange. In October 1986, Iraqi aircraft attacked civilian passenger trains and aircraft, including an Iran Air Boeing 737 unloading passengers at Shiraz International Airport .
In retaliation for the punishing Iranian Operation Karbala-5, an early 1987 attempt to capture Basra, over 42 days Iraq attacked 65 cities in 226 sorties bombing civilian neighborhoods. Eight Iranian cities came under the attack from Iraqi missiles. Bombings killed 65 children in an elementary school in Borujerd alone. The Iranians also responded with the scud missiles attack on Baghdad which struck a primary school there. These events became known as "the war of the cities". [21]
Towards a ceasefire
1987 saw a renewed wave of Iranian offensives against targets in both the north and south of Iraq. Iranian troops were stopped cold by Iraqi prepared defenses in the south in a month-and-a-half long battle for Basra ( Operation Karbala-5), but met with more success later in the year in the north as Operations Nasr 4 and Karbala-10 threatened to capture the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk and other northern oilfields. However, the Iranian forces were unable to consolidate their gains and continue their advance, and so 1987 saw little land change hands. On 20 July, the Security Council of the United Nations passed the US-sponsored Resolution 598, which called for an end to fighting and a return to pre-war boundaries. Iraq, which had lost important pieces of land over the course of the war, eagerly accepted the resolution. Iran, however, was loathe to surrender its gains when total victory seemed close at hand, and so the fighting continued. [22]
By April 1988, however, the Iraqi forces had regrouped sufficiently to begin a new series of devastating attacks on the Iranians, and in quick succession recaptured the strategic al-Faw peninsula (lost in 1986 in Operation Dawn-8) and territory around Basra and also struck deep into the Iranian north, capturing much matériel. [23] Following these major setbacks, Iran accepted the terms of Resolution 598. However Iraq, which had seen major victories in the end of the war, thought at first it could invade Iran once more; in the end, Iraqi forces managed to make small gains in Khuzestan but were halted by the Iranians and so Iraq also accepted the terms and on 20 August 1988 peace was restored.
The People's Mujahedin of Iran started their ten day operation after the Iranian government accepted UN Resolution 598. While Iraqi forces attacked Khuzestan, the Mujahedin attacked western Iran and battled the Pasdaran for Kermanshah. Close air support from the Iraqis contributed to whatever gains the Mojahedin made. However, under heavy international pressure for ending the war, Saddam Hussein withdrew his fighter aircraft and the sky opened for the Iranian airborne forces to be deployed behind Mojahedin lines. The operation ended in a Bay of Pigs style disaster for the Mojahedin. Casualty figures range from 2,000 to as high as 10,000.
List of major Iranian operations during the war
- 27 September-29 September 1981: Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh; Iran retakes Abadan.
- 29 November-mid-December 1981: Operation Tarigh ol-Qods ; Iran retakes Abadan and area north of Susangerd.
- 21 March-30 March 1982 : Operation Fath-ol-Mobeen (Operation Undeniable Victory; Iran expels Iraqi troops from Dezful-Shush area.
- 30 April-24 May 1982: Operation Beit-ol-Moqaddas; Iran retakes Khorramshahr and drives Iraqis back across the border.
- 14 July-28 July 1982: Operation Ramadan; Failed Iranian offensive to capture Basra.
- 9 April-17 April 1983 : Operation Valfajr-1/Dawn(-1)); Failed Iranian offensive in Ein Khosh to capture Basra-Baghdad highway.
- 19 October-mid November 1983: Operation Valfajr-4/Dawn 4 ; Iranian offensive in Iraq's Kurdistan near Panjwin makes small gains.
- 22 February-16 March 1984: Operation Kheibar; Iranian offensive captures the Iraqi Majnoon Islands in the Haur al-Hawizeh marshes.
- 10 March-20 March 1985 : Operation Badr; Unsuccessful Iranian offensive to capture the Basra-Baghdad highway.
- 9 February-25 February 1986: Operation Valfajr-8/Dawn 8; Three-pronged Iranian offensive leads to capture of al-Faw Peninsula.
- 2 June 1986: Operation Karbala-1.
- 1 September 1986: Operation Karbala-2; Iranian offensive in the Hajj Umran area of Iraqi Kurdistan.
- 9 January-26 February 1987: Operation Karbala-5; Iranian offensive in southern Iraq to capture Basra.
- 21 June 1987: Operation Nasr 4. Iranian Operation captures Kirkuk
- 16 March 1988: Operation Valfajr-10/Dawn 10; Iranian offensive in Iraqi Kurdistan.
- 27 July 1988: Operation Mersad.
List of major Iraqi operations during the war
- 22 September-mid November 1980; Iraqi invasion of Iran
- 9 March-10 March 1986 ; Unsuccessful Iraqi offensive to recapture Al-Faw Peninsula.
- 17 May 1986; Iraqi offensive captures Mehran.
- 16 April-18 April 1988 ; Iraqi offensive recaptures Al-Faw Peninsula. Use of chemical weapons
- 23 May-25 May 1988; Iraqi offensive in northern and central sectors recaptures Shalamche using chemical weapons.
- 19 June-22 June 1988; Iraqi offensive captures Mehran.
- 25 June 1988; Iraqi offensive recaptures Majnoon Islands.
- 12 July 1988; Iraqi offensive retakes all Iraqi territory in the Musian border region.
- 22 July-29 July 1988; Iraqi offensive along the entire Iran border, captures some territory in the central and southern sectors with the help of Mojahedin-e-Khalq, but fails in the northern sector.
Iran's armament and support
Military armaments/technology
- See also: Iran-Contra Affair
During the early years of the war, Iran's arsenal was almost entirely American-made, left over from the Imperial Armed Forces of the dethroned Shah. Iran's foreign supporters gradually came to include Syria & Libya. It purchased weaponry from North Korea and the People's Republic of China, notably the Silkworm anti-ship missile. Iran operated many U.S.-manufactured aircraft. Iranian Armored divisions revolved mainly around M60 and Chieftain tanks. The fleet of around 900 tanks was on par with the British Army and these tanks were the most modern (often fitted with laser telemeters) sub versions available. Iran acquired weapons and parts for its Shah-era U.S. systems through covert arms transactions from officials in the Reagan Administration, first indirectly through Israel and then directly. It was hoped Iran would, in exchange, persuade several radical groups to release U.S. embassy hostages, though this did eventually result. Proceeds from the sales were diverted to the Nicaraguan Contras in what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.
According to the report of the U.S. Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair issued in November 1987, "the sale of U.S. arms to Iran through Israel began in the summer of 1985, after receiving the approval of President Reagan." [24] These sales included "2,008 BGM-71 TOW anti-Tank missiles, and 235 parts kits for MIM-23 Hawk surface-to-air missiles had been sent to Iran via Israel." Further shipments of up to US$2 billion of American weapons from Israel to Iran, consisting of 18 F-4 Phantom II fighter-bombers, 46 A-4 Skyhawk fighter-bombers, and nearly 4,000 missiles were foiled by the U.S. Department of Justice, and "unverified reports alleged that Israel agreed to sell Iran AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, radar equipment, mortar and machinegun ammunition, field telephones, M-60 tank engines and artillery shells, and spare parts for C-130 transport planes."[25] The London Observer also estimated that Israel's arms sales to Iran during the war totalled US$ 500 million annually, [26] and Time Magazine reported that throughout 1981 and 1982, "the Israelis reportedly set up Swiss bank accounts to handle the financial end of the deals." [27] For more on Israeli Hawk missile sales to Iran see. [28]
Aircraft
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Main article: Iranian Air Force in Iran-Iraq war
During the war, Iran operated U.S.-manufactured F-4, F-5 and fighters, as well as AH-1 Cobra light attack helicopters, which defended themselves very well against Mi-24s and Gazelle helicopters and had some success defending themselves against Iraqi fighter aircraft. The Iranian Army also possessed M109 Howitzers, Rapier and HAWK missiles, roughly one hundred ZSU-23-4 anti-aircraft systems, and Soviet BM-21 multiple rocket launch vehicles (of the Abash variant). It also operated a number of F-14 Tomcat fighters, which, according to a few sources, proved devastating to the Iraqis in the early phases of the war. However, due to the Iranian government's estrangement from the United States, spare parts were difficult to obtain. Despite this the Iranians managed to maintain a constant presence with their Tomcats during the entire conflict, mostly due to a combination of spare parts acquired on the black market and parts made in Iran. These were supported by KC-135s, a refueling tanker based on the Boeing 367-80.[29] Missiles of the IRIAF and Islamic Republic of Iran Army (IRIA) were over 2000 Mavericks, thousands of AIM-9B/J/Ps Sidewinders, and AIM-7Es.
Military tactics
Perhaps the most commented-on characteristic of the war was the use of human wave attacks and suicide brigades by Iran, including the use of thousands of teenage Basij volunteers who sacrificed their lives to clear the marshes of mines. Wearing white headbands and shouting 'Shaheed, shaheed!' (' Martyr, martyr!') as they were blown up, these youths ran over fields of landmines to clear the way for Iranian ground assault. [30] Their devotion earned the reverence of pious Iranian revolutionaries but ultimately did not overcome Iraqi defenses. To this day, the use of estesh-hadiyun (martyrdom-seekers) remains part of Iranian military doctrine. [31]
Iraq's armament and support
- Further information: Arms sales to Iraq 1973-1990, U.S. support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, and Iraq-gate (Gulf War)
Military armaments/technology
Iraq's army was primarily equipped with weaponry it had purchased from the Soviet Union and its satellites in the preceding decade. During the war, it purchased billions of dollars worth of advanced equipment from the Soviet Union, France,[32] as well as from the People's Republic of China, Brazil, Egypt, Germany, and other sources (including Europe and facilities for making and/or enhancing chemical weapons). Germany,[33] and other Western countries (among them United Kingdom, France, Spain (Explosivos Alaveses), Canada, Italy and the United States) provided Iraq with biological and chemical weapons technology and the precursors to nuclear capabilities (see below).
The sources of Iraqi arms purchases between 1970 and 1990 (10% of the world market during this period) are estimated to be:
| Suppliers | in Billions (1985 $US) | % of total |
|---|---|---|
| Soviet Union | 19.2 | 61 |
| France | 5.5 | 18 |
| People's Republic of China | 1.7 | 5 |
| Brazil | 1.1 | 4 |
| Egypt | 1.1 | 4 |
| Other countries | 2.9 | 6 |
| Total | 31.5 | 98.0 |
The U.S. sold Iraq $200 million in helicopters, which were used by the Iraqi military in the war. These were the only direct U.S.-Iraqi military sales and were valued to be about 0.6% of Iraq's conventional weapons imports during the war. [34] The helicopters were demilitarized, however, without weapon systems so they were technically not considered weapon sales.
Ted Koppel of ABC Nightline reported the following, however, on June 9, 1992: "It is becoming increasingly clear that George Bush Sr., operating largely behind the scenes throughout the 1980s, initiated and supported much of the financing, intelligence, and military help that built Saddam's Iraq into [an aggressive power]" and "Reagan/Bush administrations permitted — and frequently encouraged — the flow of money, agricultural credits, dual-use technology, chemicals, and weapons to Iraq."
According to New Yorker, the Reagan Administration began to allow Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt to transfer to Iraq American howitzers, helicopters, bombs and other weapons. [35] Reagan personally asked Italy's Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to channel arms to Iraq. [36]
The United States, United Kingdom, and Germany also provided "dual use" technology (computers, engines, etc.) that allowed Iraq to expand its missile program and radar defenses. The U.S. Commerce Department, in violation of procedure, gave out licenses to companies for $1.5 billion in dual-use items to be sent to Iraq. The State Department was not informed of this. Over 1 billion of these authorized items were trucks that were never delivered. The rest consisted of advanced technology. Iraq's Soviet-made Scuds had their ranges expanded as a result. [37]
Yugoslavia sold weapons to both countries for the entire duration of the conflict. Portugal helped both countries: it was not unusual seeing Iranian- and Iraqi-flagged ships side-by-side in Sines (a town with a deep-sea port). [citation needed]
Aircraft
After suffering severe blow in the Yom Kippur war, when an entire armored division was sent to help Syria, together with MiGs and other military units, and after the clashes happened with Iran, Sadam Hussein spent much money to build an improved air force although it expanded and upgraded its fleet considerably as the war progressed. Many MiG-21s, MiG-23 and later even powerful MiG-25s were bought, followed by Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters and supplemented by large purchases of Sukhoi Su-22s and French Dassault Mirage F1s. It conducted strategic bombing using Tupolev Tu-16 Badgers. Because the AT-2 Swatter and Falanga missiles were not so effective and precise, Iraq bought the Anglo-French Aérospatiale Gazelle scout helicopter with HOT, just like Syria already had done. The mix Mi-24/Gazelle became, after the early years of war, a very lethal one. Iraq's air force used Soviet weapons and reflected Soviet training. It also deployed the Exocet anti-ship missile.[38]
Financial support
Iraq's main financial backers were the oil-rich Persian Gulf states, most notably Saudi Arabia ($30.9 billion), Kuwait ($8.2 billion) and the United Arab Emirates ($8 billion).[52]
The Iraq-gate scandal revealed that an Atlanta branch of Italy's largest bank, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, relying partially on U.S. taxpayer-guaranteed loans, funneled $5 billion to Iraq from 1985 to 1989. In August 1989, when FBI agents finally raided the Atlanta branch of BNL, the branch manager, Christopher Drogoul, was charged with making unauthorized, clandestine, and illegal loans to Iraq — some of which, according to his indictment, were used to purchase arms and weapons technology.
Aside from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times , and ABC's Ted Koppel, the Iraq-gate story never picked up much steam, even though the U.S. Congress became involved with the scandal.[53] This scandal is covered in Alan Friedman's book The Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq.
Beginning in September 1989, the Financial Times laid out the first charges that BNL, relying heavily on U.S. government-guaranteed loans, was funding Iraqi chemical and nuclear weapons work. For the next two and a half years, the Financial Times provided the only continuous newspaper reportage (over 300 articles) on the subject. Among the companies shipping militarily useful technology to Iraq under the eye of the U.S. government, according to the Financial Times, were Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, and Matrix Churchill, through its Ohio branch.[54]
In all, Iraq received $35 billion in loans from the West and between $30 and $40 billion from the Gulf States during the 1980s. [9]
Comparison of Iraqi and Iranian military strength
The power of the Iranian and Iraqi forces was unbalanced. The strength of Iraq and Iran is seen on the table by
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