Operation Karbala-5

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Operation Karbala-5
Part of Iran-Iraq War

Date Early 1987
Location Basra, southern Iraq
Result Stalemate;
  • Iranian siege of the city fails
  • Largest Battle of the Iran-Iraq War
  • Over 100,000 Troops killed
  • Basra's population falls from 2 milion to 100,000
  • Use of poison gas by Iraq
  • Bombing of Iranian cities
Territorial
changes		 Iraq holds on to the city of al-Basra
Belligerents
Flag of Iraq Iraq Flag of Iran Iran
Commanders
Saddam Hussein Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Strength
At least 8 Brigades,probably 180,000 650,000
Casualties and losses
40,000 troops,
80 aircraft,
700 tanks,
250 Artillery
1,400 other vehicles		 65,000 troops
v • d • e
Iran-Iraq War

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, it was the biggest battle of the war and proved to be the beginning of the end of the Iran-Iraq War.

Contents

[edit] Prelude

With the Iran-Iraq War 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 besieged the city 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.

Making up the manpower of the Iraqi army were six conscript brigades as well as two brigades of the elite Republican Guard nearby. The Iraqis set up an artificial barrier facing Iran, using dykes and the Jasim river leading from the Shatt al Arab to create an artificial lake. Known simply as ‘Fish Lake,’ the man-made barrier was approximately 30 kilometers long and 1,800 meters wide. Iraqi engineers even managed to place electrodes in the waters of the lake. Further more, the Iraqis set up mine fields, a series of trenches, concrete bunkers, and barbed wire, totaling five lines of defense. By the time the defenses were complete, the Iraqis came to know the entire barrier as the 'wall of steel.'

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 from forty days of training to none 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.

On Christmas Eve of 1986, Iran launched the Operation Karbala-4 under cover of dark. The battle was short lived, however, as the Iraqi defenses pummeled the Iranian forces coming ashore. Though a failure, Iran continued with further operations and mobilized the Pasdaran's most experienced officers for battle. After two weeks, Iran officially launched Operation Karbala 5.

[edit] The Battle

The operation began on the morning of January 9th when Pasdaran and Basijis attacked the Iraqi defenses with a human wave assault south of Fish Lake, effectively overrunning a battalion of Iraqi infantry. From there, another wave of Iranians crossed the lake by boat and landed on the western shores, where they made a desperate charge for the Shatt al-Arab river. Instead, they faced a counterattack by several brigades of the Republican Guard, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. The Iranians spent the days of the 9th and 10th overrunning two of the five Iraqi defense lines, reportedly using dug-in Iraqi tank turrets to shell Basra and other fortifications.

On January 14th, Iraqi Border Guards found themselves nearly cut off in the third line of trenches by Iranian forces moving in on both flanks. After fierce fighting, they withdrew across the Jasim river on the 17th, giving the Iranians the cue to charge south towards the Shatt. They were successful in taking a small island in the Shatt. However, the Iraqis managed to repulse the capture of the island by moving in from the south on land. In the following days, the Iranians managed to capture the town of Duayji and secure a bridgehead six miles inside Iraq along the shore lines.

By January 22, the Iranians were within twelve kilometers of Basra. The battle turned into a stalemate at this point. The Iraqis suddenly found themselves on the outer perimeters of Basra. Bombardments of the city became frequent and heavy. So heavy, in fact, that the Iraqi forces helped the civilian population evacuate to northern Iraq. On a near daily basis, the Iranians also fired medium ranged missiles, including Oghab missiles at the city. The Iranians also enjoyed the luxury of large scale helicopter-borne support, which included the use of Bell and Chinook helicopters.

The situation had deteriorated so badly that President Saddam Hussein chose to make a rare visit to the troops. Incidentally, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was also visible on the war front, reportedly observing the gains made by Iranian forces.

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 further into Iraqi territory, continually inflicting heavy casualties among civilians.

By the fourth week of the offensive, the majority of Iranian forces were spent. The Iraqi Republican Guard counterattacked on January 28th and finally crushed the hard-fought salient along Fish Lake. Iran continued its shelling of Basra in the following month, even going as far as to setting fire to a petrochemical plant, which released a toxic gas south of the city. But it was clear by the end of February that Iran had officially aborted the operation.

[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. Of the most experienced Pasdaran recruited to lead the campaign, roughly a quarter of them were killed. 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.

Though the Iraqis forced the Iranian offensive back, it was still an embarrassment due to the fact that Iran came so close to the gates of Basra. At one point, Saddam Hussein nearly faced mutiny from his generals, who demanded the freedom to conduct operations without political interference. Much of the world felt a wave of shock from the success of the offensive, including the United States. Ironically enough, much of the success was due to U.S. arms provided to Iran during the Iran-Contra Scandal. The effects of the Operation were also felt in the Persian Gulf, as Iran and Iraq attacked tankers belonging to other countries doing business with both powers. A total of sixteen ships were hit in the first five weeks of 1987.

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 last in a series of 'final offensives.'

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

5. In The Name of God: The Khomeini Decade, by Robin Wright, Simon and Schuster, 1989

6. Essential Histories: The Iran Iraq War 1980-1988, by Efraim Karsh, Osprey Publishing, 2002 Mike fandler is poor.

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