Operation Badr was an Iranian
operation
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
conducted during the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
against the forces of
Ba'athist Iraq
Ba'athist Iraq, formally the Iraqi Republic until 6 January 1992 and the Republic of Iraq thereafter, covers the History of Iraq, national history of Iraq between 1968 and 2003 under the rule of the Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction), Arab S ...
. The Iranians launched their offensive on March 11 and succeeded in capturing a part of the Basra-
Amarah
Amarah ( ar, ٱلْعَمَارَة, al-ʿAmārah), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the border with Iran. It lies at the ...
-Baghdad highway. The following Iraqi counterattack, however, forced the Iranians out in a continual war of endless
stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in the game of chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior ...
.
Prelude
After its failure to capture
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
in 1982, Iran launched
Operation Kheibar
Operation Kheibar was an Iranian offensive in the Iran–Iraq War. It was part of the Battle of the Marshes.
Prelude
After the unsuccessful major offensive named Operation Dawn V aimed directly at Basra, Iran opened a front at the lakes of the ...
in 1984 to capture the
Baghdad-Basra highway. This resulted in the
Battle of the Marshes
The Battle of the Marshes ( ar, معركة الأهوار, fa, نبرد نیزارها) was a part of the Iran–Iraq War.
After the mostly indecisive Dawn operations in 1983, Iran opened a new, surprise amphibious offensive in the lakes of ...
, and the operation failed, but Iran planned for Operation Badr in a further attempt to capture it. Without coincidence, the operation was named after the Prophet
Mohammed
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...
's first military victory in Mecca centuries before.
The aim of the offensive was focused on capturing the Baghdad-Basra highway, which was a vital link between the two major cities, and for the movement of military supplies and vehicles to support and replenish the Iraqi defenders at the front-line. Another objective included the crossing of the
Tigris
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
River, which would cut off Basra from Iraq and give an equally psychological blow to the country. This operation was similar to Operation Kheibar, except it consisted of far superior planning. Iran used 100,000 troops, and 60,000 more in reserve. Iran assessed the marshy terrain and plotted points where to land tanks. Iran also would construct
pontoon bridge
A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maxi ...
s across the marshes. The Basij forces were also equipped with
anti-tank weapons
Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first deve ...
.
Iran found itself reorganizing the
Pasdaran
, meaning "Guards") can refer to:
* Pasdaran (district) in Tehran
* Informal name for the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسدا ...
and
Basij
The Basij ( fa, بسيج, lit. "The Mobilization"), Niru-ye Moghāvemat-e Basij ( fa, نیروی مقاومت بسیج, "Resistance Mobilization Force"), full name Sâzmân-e Basij-e Mostaz'afin ( fa, سازمان بسیج مستضعفین, "The ...
units into more conventional forces as a response to several failures in the past. Although highly motivated and outnumbering the Iraqis, the Iranians were poorly trained and lacked heavy equipment, including armor, artillery, and air support to back up the operation. At the same time, Iran was also suffering the effects of the U.S.'s
Operation Staunch Operation Staunch was launched in the spring of 1983 by the United States State Department to stop the flow of U.S. arms to Iran.
Background
The Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the hostage crisis in Tehran frustrated American policymakers ...
embargo. Conversely, the Iraqis, under command of General Hisham al-Fakhri, had the luxury of better equipment, better training, and the illegal use of
poison gas
Many gases have toxic properties, which are often assessed using the LC50 (median lethal dose) measure. In the United States, many of these gases have been assigned an NFPA 704 health rating of 4 (may be fatal) or 3 (may cause serious or perman ...
.
The battle
On March 11, Iran sent in a force of 100,000 men to attack the vicinity of
Majnoon Island Majnoon Island is an island in southern Iraq near Al-Qurnah that is a center for oil production of the Majnoon Oilfield. The area was built out of sand dunes and mud to create pathways for oil pipelines. It was the site of several large battles in ...
; this force landed at al-Qurnah, where the
Tigris River
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the P ...
skirts the highway and made a charge for it,
succeeding in its partial capture, in response to which Iraq opened a counterattack with artillery, air strikes and armor divisions from the north. This battle was the first time that units of the
Republican Guard
A republican guard, sometimes called a national guard, is a state organization of a country (often a republic, hence the name ''Republican'') which typically serves to protect the head of state and the government, and thus is often synonymous wit ...
were employed as reserve forces.
The Iranians attacked from the Majnoun Islands, once again taking the Iraqis by surprise, striking at the southern end of Iraq's 4th army corps, on a 12 km wide front.
The sheer ferocity of the Iranian offensive broke through the Iraqi lines, the Revolutionary Guard, with the support of tanks and artillery broke through the north of Qurna on 14 March. Two days into the offensive, the Iranians penetrated 16 km (10 miles) into Iraq; that same night 30,000 Iranian troops reached the
Tigris River
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the P ...
and crossed it using three
pontoon bridge
A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maxi ...
s, one of which was capable of supporting heavy vehicles. Thus they succeeded in capturing part of the
Baghdad-Basra Highway 6, which had eluded them during Operations Dawn 5 and Dawn 6;
8however, while being successful the Iranians had dangerously overextended themselves, and were still suffering from shortages of armor.
Saddam responded by
launching chemical attacks (
tabun agent) against the Iranian positions along the highway and by initiating the second "
war of the cities
The War of the Cities was five series of air raids, missile attacks and artillery shellings on major cities and urban areas initiated by Saddam Hussein's Iraqi Air Force, with the aim of disrupting the morale of Iran during the Iran–Iraq War. T ...
", with an air and missile campaign against twenty Iranian population centres, including Tehran.
3The Iraqis had attempted to cause heavy Iranian casualties during the battle by channeling their infantry into pre-set artillery 'kill zones'; this counterattack was launched after the Iranians had reached their objective.
Under
General Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai and General Jamal Zanoun (two of their most skilled commanders), the Iraqis launched air and artillery attacks against the Iranian positions, pinning them down; this was followed by a massive pincer attack against the Iranians, using mechanized infantry and tanks.
8The battle came to a climax when
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
ordered the use of chemical attacks to evict the Iranians; the Iraqis also flooded the Iranian trenches with specially constructed pipes, diverting water from the Tigris River. Under such heavy pressure the Iranians were forced to retreat. Helicopters also inflicted heavy losses on the retreating forces, forcing them back to the Hoveyzeh marshes and destroying the pontoon bridges. By March 16, all of the Iranian forces had retreated back to the marshes.
A short time after the initial attack on the highway, Iran had planned to launch a diversionary one against another area, but it began too late and it too was defeated.
Thus the Iranians were eventually driven out of their positions, and the highway retaken by the Iraqis; however, the latter sustained massive losses in the air as a result. Operation Badr resulted in 10,000 casualties for Iraq and 15,000 casualties for Iran and the Iraqi counterattacks were able to force the Iranians back to their previous lines, sustaining almost as heavy casualties as the Iranians.
Aftermath
In response to Operation Badr, Saddam opened the second "
War of the Cities
The War of the Cities was five series of air raids, missile attacks and artillery shellings on major cities and urban areas initiated by Saddam Hussein's Iraqi Air Force, with the aim of disrupting the morale of Iran during the Iran–Iraq War. T ...
" during March that year, hitting cities as far as
Isfahan
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...
,
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
,
Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...
, and even
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
. Iran responded in kind with attacks of her own against Iraq, mostly by launching shells and medium range missiles at the port city of
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
.
While Iran had not succeeded due to the shortages of Iranian armor and air power, it convinced the Iranian leadership that their tactics were still good, as they had managed to get so far into Iraq. The Iraqis were also convinced their tactics were sound as well. Iran's weakness would remain lack of heavy equipment, and they would suffer during Iraqi counterattacks with heavy weapons.
With experiences gained during this battle and the earlier
Battle of the Marshes
The Battle of the Marshes ( ar, معركة الأهوار, fa, نبرد نیزارها) was a part of the Iran–Iraq War.
After the mostly indecisive Dawn operations in 1983, Iran opened a new, surprise amphibious offensive in the lakes of ...
, Iran launched the successful
Operation Dawn 8
The First Battle of al-Faw was a battle of the Iran–Iraq War, fought on the al-Faw peninsula between 10 February and 10 March 1986. The Iranian operation is considered to be one of Iran's greatest achievements in the Iran–Iraq War. The Ir ...
, capturing the Faw Peninsula.
See also
*
Operation Quds-1
Operation Quds-1 ( fa, عملیات قدس-۱) is the name of a military operation which was started on June 14, 1985 during the Iran–Iraq War. The operation was launched by the forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Repub ...
Bibliography
# ''In The Name Of God: The Khomeini Decade'', by Robin Wright, Simon and Schuster, 1989
# ''The Iran–Iraq War: Chaos in a Vacuum'', by Stephen C. Pelletiere, Praeger Publications, New York, NY, 1992.
# https://books.google.com/books?id=dUHhTPdJ6yIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://books.google.com/books?id=dUHhTPdJ6yIC&pg=PT877&lpg=PT877&dq=Iran+at+war+1500-1988+Badr&source=bl&ots=LrQ7K_8PLg&sig=TLuPFKmjLFNLFhghliC1E_UFBdM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MgyHUY3GA83A4AOT4oCIAw&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badr
Military operations of the Iran–Iraq War in 1985
Military operations involving chemical weapons during the Iran–Iraq War