Operation Kheibar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (September 2007)

Battle of the Marshes
Part of Iran-Iraq War, Battle of the Marshes
Date February 14, 1984-March 19, 1984 Location Lakes of the Hawizah Marshes in Iraq Result Decisive Iranian victory Territorial changes Iran captures the Majnoon islands
Belligerents
Iraq	Iran
Strength
10,000	250,000
Casualties and losses
9,000	40,000

Operation Kheibar was an Iranian offensive in the Iran-Iraq War. This operation was part of the Battle of the Marshes.

[edit] Prelude

After the quite unsuccessful Operation Dawn V at the southern front Iran opened a new front at the lakes of the Hawizah Marshes, known as the central front. The battle fought here would be one of the largest of the war was known as the Battle of the Marshes. 250,000 Iranian men swept through the Iraqi desert and were met by a mechanized force that slaughtered them. Iran needed air-support but lacked spare parts for the American planes as the US wasn't providing them with anymore. This became a serious problem for Iran and that is why they suffered heavy casualties, the only thing that saved them was the fact that they had so many soldiers that were all eager to fight out of loyalty to their nation. For every soldier that died, Iran had another one to replace him, but Iraq on the other hand couldn't replace their deaths, and so relied on artillery, air-support and tanks.

[edit] The Battle

On February 14 1984 Iran had after fierce fighting and heavy losses reached the oil-rich Majnoon_Island. Iran now was ready to launch the final attack of the battle of the Marshes and if this one would be lost Iraq could easily regain all territory lost in the battle of the Marshes. Iran started their first strategic offensive now, Operation Kheibar. The IRIAF tried their best to support the troops but cause they lacked spare parts they could only provide 100 combat sorties per day on average, which was simply not enough. But on the other side the Iraqi air-force had their hands full on the southern front. Because of Iran's lack of aircraft, they used helicopters support for their troops. Eventually the Iranians swept across the marshes and forced the Iraqis out of the Majnoon islands which was a major disaster for Iraq.

[edit] Aftermath

In the end Iran had suffered 40,000 casualties in the battle of the Marshes and only managed to inflict 9,000 casualties on Iraq. But for Iraq even 9,000 was far too much. After the battle, Iran tried to take the Baghdad-Basra highway with Operation Badr, but this was unsuccessful. At the end of the War, Iraq expelled the Iranians from the Majnoon island by using large-scale poison-gas attacks.

[edit] References

• The Mother of all Build-Ups, Air Combat Information Group
• The First Gulf War (Iran and Iraq in the 1980s)