Iraq's imposed war on Iran(first stage)

The first stage of Iraq's imposed war against Iran, from the invasion to the retreat of Iraq, starts on 21st of September 1980 and ends at 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.

Occupied cities

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.

The four operations of the first stage

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 22^nd 1981

2. Operation Tariq al-Quds (general area of Bostan) on November 28^th 1981

3. Operation of Fatah ol-Mobin (west of Shush and Dezful) on  March 21^st 1982

4. Beyt-ol Moghaddas operation (Khorramshahr general area) on April 29^th 1982.

Liberation in operation

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.

See also

• Iraq's imposed war on Iran
• Iraq's imposed war on Iran(second stage)
• Iraq's imposed war on Iran(third level)

Bibliography

Mustafa Rahimi