| Operation Valfajr-4 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Iran–Iraq War | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Iraq | Iran Peshmerga |
||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Hossein Kharrazi | |||||||||
Operation Valfajr-4 ( Dawn 4) was an Iranian operation of the Iran-Iraq War launched in 1983. At the end of the operation Iran had captured a small amount of territory from the Iraqis.
Contents |
Units of Iraq's First Army Corps spent two months in their trenches waiting for the Iranians to attack. The offensive came on 19 October 1983 as the Iranians and guerillas of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan took 250 square miles (650 km2) of territory. This included a number of Kurdish villages and exerted a significant amount of pressure on Penjwin.
Saddam Hussein responded with a counterattack, using the Iraqi Republican Guard and poison gas. However, they failed to dislodge the Iranians, who were dug-in and reinforced by Kurdish fighters.
The attack was successful but the Iranians suffered high casualties due to Iraqi gas attacks. Unlike other operations and battles of the Iran–Iraq War, environmental conditions and operative restrictions were of high significance for this operation. Also the military medicine organization of the Pasdaran was important in this battle; they used special methods to save the wounded and carried out rescue operations.[1]
However, in response to this victory, Saddam Hussein launched the first Scud missiles into Iran, hitting six cities.
The Longest War, by Dilip Hiro, Routledge, Chapman, and Hall, Inc. 1991 (pg. 102).