| Battle of the Marshes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Iran-Iraq War, Battle of the Marshes | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Iraq | Iran | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Hossein Kharrazi | |||||||||
| 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.
Contents |
After the unsuccessful Operation Dawn V in southern Iraq, Iran opened a new front at the lakes of the Hawizeh 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-made planes. This became a serious problem for Iran and led to heavy casualties.
Iran enjoyed a zealous force of Pasdaran and Basij, but Iraq could not replace their deaths, forcing them to rely on artillery, air-support, and tanks.
On February 14, 1984, Iran fought through Iraqi defenses to 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 because 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.
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.