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The Siege of Basra, also known as Operation Karbala-5, was an offensive operation 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, was the biggest battle of the war and proved to be the beginning of the end of the Iran-Iraq War. ==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 man-made Jasim canal 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. Soldiers described a smell of 'dead fish' since so many shells rained down on the lake. Iraqi engineers even managed to place electrodes in the waters. Furthermore, the Iraqis set up mine fields, a series of trenches, concrete bunkers, and barbed wire, totaling five lines of defense. In addition, behind each waterway and defensive line was radar-guided artillery, ground attack aircraft, and combat helicopters; all capable of firing poison gas in addition to conventional munitions.() By the time the defenses were complete, the Iraqis came to know the entire barrier as the 'wall of steel.' Iran's strategy was to penetrate through these massive defensive lines, and encircle Basra, cutting off the city as well as the Al-Faw peninsula from the rest of Iraq. While being the largest and most sophisticated attack since 1984, it was actually a part of Iran's attritional strategy, in order to strike an unsustainable blow against Iraq, as the Iranians had little hope of a decisive victory in the face of Iraq's massive rearmament. There were hopes that it could bring about Iraq's downfall through sheer depletion and/or make Basra an alternative pro-Iran capital for a new Iraqi government. () Iran's plan was for a diversionary attack near Basra, the main offensive, and another diversionary attack using Iranian armor in the north to have Iraqi heavy armor diverted away from Basra.() For these battles, Iran had re-expanded their military by recruiting many new Basij and Pasdaran volunteers. () The Iranians amassed between 150,000 and 200,000 regular army troops, Pasdaran and Basij fighters of the ‘Muhammad Corps.’〔Pollack, Kenneth. ''Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948–1991''. 2004, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. Page 221〕The Corps itself consisted of men, with even a few 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. The Iranians did however enjoy the luxury of large scale helicopter-borne support, which included the use of Bell and Chinook helicopters. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani praised the troops heading for the front before the operation commenced:
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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Siege of Basra」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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