Iraq's imposed war on Iran
Iraq's imposed war on Iran
An overview of the background, history and course of events of Iraq's imposed war on Iran.
Iran is located in Southwest Asia with an area of 1,648,195 square kilometers. Iran has a common land border with seven countries: Turkey and Iraq in the west, Azerbaijan and Armenia in the northwest, Turkmenistan in the north, and Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east. She also has sea borders with the eight following countries, Russia and Kazakhstan in the north exactly at the Caspian Sea, and with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia. Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain in the south in the Persian Gulf. 98% of Iranian people are Muslims. In 1980, Iran had a population of about 36 million people and its economy was heavily dependent on oil. In the winter of 1978, the monarchy collapsed in this country and the new system of the Islamic Republic was established.
But Iraq, with an area of 437,072 square kilometers, is one of Iran's western neighbors. This country shares a land border with the countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria and Turkey. However, it has the longest border with Iran for totally 1,336 km: 1,252 km land border and 84 km sea border (Arvandrud). The coast of Iraq in the Persian Gulf is limited and has access to open waters only through Arvand and Khor Abdullah rivers. Most of Iraq's population centers, economic facilities, military centers, and sensitive areas are located around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and at a relatively short distance from Iran's borders. Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, is also only 100 kilometers away from the border. 96% of Iraqis are Muslims. Of these, 60 to 65 percent are Shiites and the rest are Sunnis. Iraq had a population of about 13 million people in 1980, and its economy, like Iran, relied on oil sales.
Historical records of border disputes
Border disputes between Iran and Iraq have a historical background and go back to the reign of Ottoman kings. The conclusion of numerous treaties, including Kurdistan (1746 AD), Erzurum I (1823 AD) and Erzurum II (1847 AD) go to show the continuation of these disputes for many years. In 1920 following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the independent state of Iraq was established. Even so, border disputes with Iran more or less continued. When the Baath party came to power in Iraq (July 1968), the border disputes between the two countries flared up. so that from 1971 to 1975 The borders of the two countries witnessed numerous conflicts. In the meantime, the main difference was about the sovereignty or undisputed control over Arvandrud (rud in Farsi means river) Finally, in 1975, with the mediation of the Algerian government, Iran and Iraq signed the Treaty of Good Neighborhood. According to this agreement, the land borders were determined; The water borders were determined based on the Talweg line (Talweg is an imaginary line that divides the water of the river into two equal parts) and the parties pledged to have strict and effective control over their borders to prevent sabotage.
In February 1978, the Islamic revolution of the Iranian people led by Imam Khomeini came to fruition; The Pahlavi monarchy was overthrown and the Islamic Republic system was established after the referendum on April 12, 1979. Five months later, on July 15th, 1979, Saddam Hussein started working as the president of Iraq. He, who deemed the content of the 1975 Algerian agreement against the national interests of Iraqis, took full advantage of Iran's socio-political situation and from the summer of 1979, with the development of border conflicts, increased the possibility of Iraq tilting towards the option of war with Iran. From the time Saddam Hussein came to power in Iraq, until the official start of the war, the Iraqi army committed 480 land border violations and 150 air border violations against Iran. In fact, the Iraqi government entered into the war with Iran with three goals: gaining complete control over Arvandrud, separating Khuzestan from Iranian soil and, if possible, overthrowing the Islamic Republic government. Finally, on September 17, 1980, Saddam Hussein canceled the 1975 Algerian agreement in front of television cameras, and four days later, he officially started the war against Iran.
When the Iraqi army attacked Iran, it had 12 divisions and 15 independent brigades. This army was also equipped with 2500 tanks, 2300 personnel carriers and 1500 field guns. It had 366 military planes, 300 of which were fighters, and 872 operational pilots were ready to pilot these planes. On the other hand, the combat power of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, affected by the problems caused by the Islamic Revolution, was reduced to 4 divisions with low combat readiness. Although this force had 2,810 tanks and personnel carriers and 1,000 field guns, it was not able to use these facilities due to the lack of personnel. The air force, which had only 60 thousand people out of its 100 thousand organizational forces, despite having 447 types of war planes, was not able to use all its planes. Meanwhile, the navy was the only force that, despite all the problems, had a significant advantage over the Iraqi navy. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which was established in May 1979, with less than 30,000 personnel, was mostly engaged in urban missions and fighting counter-revolutionary forces in the crisis-stricken areas of the country.
Finally, at 13:30 on 17th of September, 1979, the Iraqi army began its massive attack on 10 air bases, including Tehran's Mehrabad Airport. At the same time, the army forces advanced along the border strip. Iraq's military strategy at this stage was designed based on a quick and short-term war. On the southern front between Arvand's entrance to the Persian Gulf and Dehloran, the 3rd Iraqi Corps consisting of five divisions was deployed . The southern front, which included the province of Khuzestan, was of particular importance in Iraq's military strategy and actually formed their main target as it embodied sub- targets such as Dezful, Andimeshk, Shush, Ahvaz, Sosangard, Khorramshahr and Abadan. Iraq's goal in this front was to capture Khuzestan. In the middle front, which included the distance between Dehloran
and the south of Darbandikhan, the Second Iraqi Corps had an advance mission with three divisions. Iraq's goal in this area was to achieve a secure defense line to protect Baghdad. But the responsibility of the northern front, which included Darbandikhan as far as Oshnaviye, was entrusted to the 1st Corps consisting of two divisions, and its purpose in this front was to intensify unrest in Kurdistan and strengthen local and counter-revolutionary forces. The imposed war can be assumed to consist of three stages as follows:
The first stage, from the invasion to the retreat of Iraq (17th of September 1980 to the end of June 1982)
The Iraqi military planners had imagined that Iran's weakened army, the political and social chaos caused by the revolutionary developments, the Arab stock of the people of Khuzestan, and international support would ensure a quick and easy advance for them. But due to the scattered resistance of the armed forces and of course the resistance of the Iranian people, the Iraqi army was only able to maintain its aggressive posture for a month and a half and then it stopped. At this stage, the cities of Naft Shahr, Qasr Shirin, Mehran, Somar, Bostan, Hoveyze, Khorramshahr, Musian, Nosud, Feke region and more than 3,000 villages were captured by Iraq and 13,600 square kilometers of Iranian territory were occupied. In this invasion, although a part of western Khuzestan fell into the hands of the enemy, Iraq could not capture important cities such as Abadan, Dezful, Shush and Ahvaz, as well as the oil refineries of Khuzestan.
After the Iraqi attacks stopped, the army planned and implemented four large-scale operations during the first four months of the war, with the aim of destroying the enemy and recapturing the occupied territories, but none of the mentioned operations were implemented.
With the beginning of the second year of the war and the strong presence of the IRGC alongside the army, four major operations were planned and executed by these two forces; The operations that finally led to the complete liberation of the occupied territories, were:
1. Samen-ol Aeme operation (north of Abadan) on September 22nd 1981
2. Operation Tariq al-Quds (general area of Bostan) on November 28th 1981
3. Operation of Fatah ol-Mobin (west of Shush and Dezful) on March 21st 1982
4. Beyt-ol Moghaddas operation (Khorramshahr general area) on April 29th 1982
In these four operations, more than 8500 square kilometers of the occupied lands were liberated . After the liberation of Khorramshahr, the Iraqi army suggested a ceasefire while voluntarily withdrawing from some other occupied territories. But Iran, which still saw 2,500 square kilometers of its land under the control of the enemy, rejected this proposal.
The second stage, chasing the Intruder (from the beginning of July 1982 to April 15th, 1988)
Iran's armed forces, who now saw the enemy in a passive position, sought to punish the intruder inside Iraqi territory based on four strategies:
1. Making Iraqi forces retreat from Iran's borders and securing the western regions of the country.
2. Cutting off the north-south communication route of Iraq, capturing Basra and cutting off Iraq's connection with the Persian Gulf.
3. Seizing oil-rich and important cities in northern Iraq such as Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah.
4. Moving towards Baghdad and overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime.
However, the failure of major operations such as Ramadan (July 12th 1982) in the east of Basra, Pre- Fajr (February 5th 1982) in Fakka, Fajr One (April 9th 1983) in the north of Fakka, Kheybar (February 21st 1983) Badr (February 10th 1984) in Hur-ol-Hoveyze, Badr caused the Iranian military strategists to dispute with each other. In the meantime, some wanted to continue the war until the fall of Saddam Hussein, but others believed that after a great victory and the occupation of a sensitive area of Iraqi territory, the war should end. These failures, of course, caused another problem, and that was the emergence of differences between the commanders of the army and the Revolutionary Guards; In such a way that each commander determined to plan and implement the the operation separately.
In February 1985, Iran's armed forces during the military operation called Valfajr 8 captured the strategic harbor Fav, and in this way, Iraq was deprived of its only coast in the Persian Gulf. A year later during the 5th Karbala operation, Shalamche area in Iraqi territory was attacked by Iran with the aim of threatening the city of Basra, which did not bring complete victory. Iran's military planners, who considered it difficult and expensive to continue operations in the south due to Iraq's knowledge of all available operational solutions and the lack of opportunities to surprise the enemy, focused on the northwest of the country to increase their chances of capturing important targets in that area, and to drag a part of the enemy's forces to the northern front. Therefore, from the beginning of 1987 to the end of April 1988, major operations such as Karbala 10 (April 13th 1987) in the general area of Mavoot, Iraq, Beyt-ol-Moghaddas 2 (January 14th 1987) in Mavoot, Wal-Fajr 10 (March 14th 1987) were implemented in Halabche, Iraq. These operations did not produce good and permanent results due to the extensive use of chemical bombs and explosives by Iraqis even though some cities of Kurdish Iraq too were seized by our forces. In this situation, although the war was followed in the geography of Iraq, but by expanding the war to the Persian Gulf and the cities of Iran, Iraq had greatly increased the vulnerability of Iran in the war.
The third stage, the re-invasion of Iraq and the end of the war (from mid-April 1988 to August 19th 1988)
Iraq, which after withdrawing from Khorramshahr, had started a wide reconstruction of its combat organization, with the prolongation of the war and Iran's inability to continue effective and efficient operations, entered the field again in the role of an aggressive intruder. On April 28th 1988, the city of Faw fell into the hands of Iraqi forces again. A few days later, Majnoon Islands and Shalamcheh were occupied following the massive attack of Iraqi forces. Iran, pressed by Iraq's all-out invasion, and their attacks on oil platforms and civilian planes on July 17th 1988 in order to end the war, sent a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations and announced its agreement with Resolution 598 of this organization. In this resolution, Iran's minimum demands, including unconditional withdrawal to international borders, determination of the Intruder and payment of war damages, were taken into consideration. But Iraq, finding Iran in a weak position, attacked Sherhani, Zubaydat, and Khorramshahr and advanced as far as Ahvaz. At first, Iraq occupied Sar-e Pol-e-Zahab and Eslam Abad with the help of the followers of Mojahedin-e-Khalgh organization (The Hypocrites), but with the resistance of Iranian forces, was forced to retreat.
Finally, Iraq was forced to accept Resolution 598 on August 5th 1988 and a nationwide ceasefire was established under the supervision of the United Nations from the morning of August 19th 1988.
During the years of war, Iran planned and effected 182 operations against Iraqi forces; Of these, 24 operations were extensive, 30 operations semi-extensive, 54 operations limited, and 74 operations were carried out using guerilla methods.
What the 8 year war brought on Iran included 218,867 martyrs, 399,174 handicapped people, and 44,863 captives, and not to mention the economic losses which were estimated to be one thousand billion dollars. Iraq too had incurred many a loss and damage, namely 400000 Iraqis had got killed and injured, there were 68,830 Iraqis in captivity , and the economic losses amounted to 800 billion dollars.
On Friday, August 26th 1990, the process of exchanging prisoners between the two governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq began and ended after a few days.
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Mustafa Rahimi