Operation Karbala-5
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Operation Karbala-5 was an offensive carried out by Iran in an effort to capture the Iraqi port city of Basra in early 1987. This battle, known for its extensive casualties and ferocious conditions, proved to be the beginning of the end of the Iran-Iraq War.
| Iran-Iraq War |
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| Mersad - Dezful -Abadan - Undeniable Victory - Khorramshahr - Ramadan - Dawn V - Marshes - Cities - 1st Al Faw - Karbala-5 - Karbala-6 - Karbala Ten - Halabja - 2nd Al Faw Related U.S. operations |
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[edit] Prelude
With the Iran-Iraq War was in its seventh year, both sides were determined to break the stalemate. Iran’s target was the city of Basra, which was both a key port and vital oil source for Iraq. Iran decided that the city had to fall in order for Saddam Hussein to fall as well. Iran had held the city under siege since 1982, yet it remained determined to make this the ‘final battle’ of the war. The Iranians also wanted to link up with forces in the already captured Fao Peninsula in southern Iraq. The timing of the operation was to coincide with winter, so that the heavy rains would hinder the Iraqi armor and air defenses. The Iraqis, however, intended to break the stalemate by inflicting as many casualties as possible on the Iranian forces, hoping to break the morale of the Iranian people.
[edit] The Combatants
The Iranians amassed over 650,000 Pasdaran and Basij fighters of the ‘Muhammad Corps.’ The Corps itself consisted of men between the ages of seventy all the way down to twelve. The Corps did not have as extensive training as their Iraqi counterparts did, having received forty to no days of training at all. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani praised the troops heading for the front before the operation commenced.
Our aim is to completely destroy the Iraqi war machine. Here, near Basra, Saddam can not do anything but fight, for the fall of Basra is tantamount to his own death. We want to settle our accounts with Iraq at Basra's gates, which will open and pave the way for the final victory we have promised.
Making up the manpower of the Iraqi army was six conscript brigades as well as two brigades of the elite Republican Guard nearby. The Iraqis set up an artificial barrier facing Iran known as ‘Fish Lake,’ which was approximately 30 kilometers long and 1,800 meters wide. As part of the defenses, the Iraqis set up mine fields, a series of trenches, concrete bunkers, and barbed wire, totaling five lines of defense. The Iraqi engineers even managed to place electrodes in the waters of the lake. By the time the defenses were complete, the Iraqis came to know the entire barrier as the 'wall of steel.'
[edit] The Battle
The operation began on the morning of January 9th when over 35,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Basijis attacked the Iraqi defenses with a human wave assault. The Iranians crossed the lake by boat and landed on the western shores, where they faced a counterattack by the Republican Guard, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. In the following weeks, the Iranians managed to capture the town of Duayji and penetrate the southeastern side of Fish Lake. They even managed to overrun three of the five Iraqi defenses, reportedly using dug-in Iraqi tank turrets to shell Basra and other fortifications. By January 22, the Iranians were within twelve kilometers of Basra.
By this high point of the battle, the Iraqis proved to be doing worse than expected, which resulted in Iraqi President Saddam Hussein making a rare visit to the troops during the second phase of the operation. However, while the Iranians had the fervor to fight, the Iraqis held the upper hand with their arsenal of armor and aircraft. They resorted to bombing Iranian supply routes with chemical weapons to thwart the reinforcement process. The Iraqis even bombed Iranian cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, and Qom as a form of counterattack. Iran retaliated by firing long-range missiles into Iraqi territory, also causing heavy casualties among civilians. But by the fourth week of the offensive, the Iranian forces were spent, giving the soldiers under fire no other choice, but to dig in and go on the defensive. Finally, on January 28th, the Iraqi Republican Guard counterattacked and crushed the hard-fought salient along Fish Lake. On February 26th, 1987, Iran aborted the operation, but continued its shelling of Basra.
[edit] Aftermath
It was reported by March that the Iraqis lost over 40,000 troops, 80 aircraft, 700 tanks , 250 Artillery and 1400 other vehicles, while the Iranians lost 65,000 troops. Basra’s former population of one million decreased to 100,000, the refugees having fled north to Baghdad. Nearly every building along the eastern end of the city was damaged or destroyed. Although Iran boasted that it would step up more attacks in the next year, no such actions materialized and Karbala 5 proved to be the beginning of the end of the war. The war ended on July 17th, 1988.
[edit] Bibliography
1. The Great War for Civilisation: the Conquest of the Middle East, by Robert Fisk, Knopf Books, 2005
2. The Gulf Iran Strikes on Two Fronts, by William E. Smith, TIME Magazine, Jan. 26, 1987
3. The Gulf, TIME Magazine, Feb. 2, 1987
4. The Gulf Life Among Smoldering Ruins, by Dean Fischer, TIME Magazine, March 30, 1987
