Al Hussein

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Al Hussein or al-Husayn (Arabic: الحسين) is a designation of an Iraqi missile, supposedly named after Imam Hussein.

During 1988-90, the Iraqis made strides in their indigenous rocket program, which was centered on upgrading the performance of the Scud.

Tehran, some 300 miles from the Iran-Iraq border, was outside the range of the unmodified Scud-B, which can travel a maximum distance of 300 km. To overcome this deficiency, Iraq extended the range of the Scud twice, apparently relying heavily on foreign technical assistance and equipment.

The first upgrade, called the al-Husayn had a range of 600-650 km, allowing strikes on Tehran. This rocket was modified through a reduction of the payload to approximately 300 to 350 kilograms. Some 11.20 meters in length and 0.90 meters in diameter, the Al Hussein corresponds more or less to the SCUD-B (length: 11.50 meters; diameter: 0.88 meters). The al-Husayn would also put most of Israel and all of Syria within striking range. Sixty of these missiles were fired at Saudi Arabia and Israel during January and February 1991.