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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iraq
Index
Figure 14. Initial Iraqi Attack on Iran, 1980
On September 22, 1980, formations of Iraqi MiG-23s and MiG21s attacked Iran's air bases at Mehrabad and Doshen-Tappen (both
near Tehran), as well as Tabriz, Bakhtaran, Ahvaz, Dezful, Urmia
(sometimes cited as Urumiyeh), Hamadan, Sanandaj, and Abadan.
Iranian defenses were caught by surprise, but the Iraqi raids
failed because Iranian jets were protected in specially
strengthened hangars and because bombs designed to destroy
runways did not totally incapacitate Iran's very large airfields.
Within hours, Iranian F-4 Phantoms took off from the same bases,
successfully attacked strategically important targets close to
major Iraqi cities, and returned home with very few losses.
Concurrently with its air attack, Iraq ordered six of its
divisions across the border into Iran, where they drove as far as
eight kilometers inland and occupied 1,000 square kilometers of
Iranian territory. As a diversionary move, a mechanized division
overwhelmed the border garrison at Qasr-e Shirin, while five
armored and mechanized divisions invaded Khuzestan on two axes,
one crossing over the Shatt al Arab near Basra, which led to the
siege and eventual occupation of Khorramshahr, and the second
heading for Susangerd, which had Ahvaz, the major military base
in Khuzestan, as its objective. In addition, Dehloran and several
other towns were targeted and were rapidly occupied to prevent
reinforcement from Bakhtaran and from Tehran. By mid-October, a
full division advanced through Khuzestan headed for Khorramshahr
and Abadan and the strategic oil fields nearby
(see
fig. 14).
Iraq's blitz-like assaults against scattered and demoralized
Iranian forces led many observers to think that Baghdad would win
the war within a matter of weeks. Indeed, Iraqi troops did
capture the Shatt al Arab and did seize a forty-eight-kilometer-
wide strip of Iranian territory. But Tehran rejected a settlement
offer and held the line against the militarily superior Iraqi
force. It refused to accept defeat, and slowly began a series of
counteroffensives in January 1981. Iran stopped Iraqi forces on
the Karun River and, with limited military stocks, unveiled its
"human wave" assaults, which used thousands of Basij (Popular
Mobilization Army or People's Army) volunteers. The recapture of
Abadan, Iran's first major victory, came in September 1981.
Data as of May 1988
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