Some important events during the 8-year war imposed on Iran

Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On November 15, 1980 AD, Iran's southwestern border town of Susangerd witnessed the courageous resistance of the Muslim combatants against the invading forces of Saddam. The defence operations were conducted only by two hundred personnel of the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC), led by Defence Minister Mostafa Chamran and assisted by the lightly-armed local Basijis. The Iranian combatants held back enemy tanks and liberated Susangerd. The victory was achieved despite virtual deprivation of water, food, and ammunitions for almost three days.
On November 27, 1980, almost two months after the start of the 8-year war imposed on Iran by the US through Saddam, Iran’s Navy defeated the Iraqi navy, destroying a large number of vessels and inflicting huge damage on Iraq’s al-Bakr oil platform at the headwaters of the Persian Gulf. The Iraqi navy was virtually eliminated, and to mark this great victory, this day has been marked over the past 31 years as Navy Day in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
On December 5, 1980, Brigadier General, Ahmad Keshvari, attained martyrdom at the age of 27 while on an airborne mission during the 8-year war imposed on Iran by the US through Saddam. Born in northern Iran, he entered the airborne unit in 1972 and became an accomplished pilot. Following the victory of Islamic Revolution, he served the country in various fields, including the operations to clear Kurdistan Province in western Iran from anti-revolutionaries. He was made Commander of the Ilam Airborne Unit. Following the outbreak of Saddam’s war, he flew several sorties, inflicting massive casualties and losses on the invading forces, before attaining martyrdom.
On December 18, 1982 AD, Saddam's Ba'thist forces targeted the southwestern Iranian city of Dezful with a large number of surface-to-surface missiles, martyring 60 civilians and wounding 287 others. Although, earlier Iraqi warplanes had bombarded different Iranian cities on several occasions, martyring many civilians, the attack on Dezful was the first wide-scale missile aggression by Saddam, who on US orders had imposed the 8-year war on the Islamic Republic Iran. The massive attack on Iranian cities and civilians by Saddam and his subsequent use of internationally banned chemical weapons, supplied by the US and Germany was because of the repeated failure of his forces at the war fronts due to the steadfastness of Iran's Muslim combatants.
On January 8, 1987 AD, "Operations Karbala-5" was launched during the 8-year Holy Defence by Iran's Muslim combatants, east of the Iraqi city port city of Basra against the invading forces of Saddam’s repressive Ba’th minority regime. In view of the importance of the region, Saddam had erected numerous hurdles that seemed impossible to surmount. Iran's courageous defenders, however, through their trust in God, overcame the obstacles and dealt a heavy blow to the Ba'thist war machine, to the extent that the enemy forces lost more than 80 warplanes and 700 tanks, while thousands of Iraqi soldiers were killed, wounded, and captured. The operations showed that despite the support of the Capitalist West and the Communist East for Saddam, as well as his backing by the oil-rich Persian Gulf Arab regimes, the armed-to-the-teeth B’athist army was no match for Iran’s brave Islamic combatants.

The UN Report on the 8-year war imposed on Iran
On December 8, 1991 AD, the UN, in a report, declared the Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad as aggressor of the 8-year war imposed on Iran – on the orders of the US. UN Secretary General, Ecuador's Javier Perez de Cuellar emphasized in his report that based on the UN Charter, and international rules and regulations, Saddam should accept responsibility for his unjustified aggression on Iran. On September 22, 1980, the repressive Ba'th minority regime f Baghdad launched unprovoked air and ground attacks on the newly-founded Islamic Republic of Iran. During the invasion, which was fully backed by the Capitalist West and the Socialist E\east, several Iranian border cities and towns were occupied and innocent women, children, and men were martyred. Iran's Muslim combatants rallied under the guidance of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), to stage heroic epics of resistance during the holy defence to blunt the Ba'thist aggressors and liberate Iranian territory until the acceptance of UN Security Council Resolution 598 in July 1988.

Saddam, the deposed dictator of Iraq’s defunct Ba’th minority regime
6 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, the deposed dictator of Iraq’s defunct Ba’th minority regime, Saddam, was executed by hanging at the age of 69 for his crimes against humanity, following the death verdict. A person of doubtful paternity, Saddam was born in al-Awja village near the city of Takrit, 140 km north of Baghdad, and as a thug involved in social crimes including murder, joined the Ba’th Party at the age of 20.
After the coup staged by the Ba’thists in 1968 under command of General Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr, he was instated as deputy president. In July 1979, a few months after the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the US and Britain removed Bakr and placed Saddam as president, in order to use his savage nature to brutally suppress the Iraqi Muslim people from following the footsteps of Iran to determine the fate of their country.
After massacring thousands of members of Iraq’s Shi’ite Arab majority, including the leading ulema such as Ayatollah Seyyed Baqer as-Sadr, and after expelling tens of thousands of Iraqis, Saddam, at the behest of his masters in the West, invaded the Islamic Republic of Iran to try to topple the government.
He utterly failed and the war dragged on for eight years during which he was supplied with internationally banned chemical weapons by the West for use against both the Iranian and Iraqi peoples. Two years after the end of his 8-year war, Saddam occupied Kuwait, his own former benefactor. This led to an international coalition against him, and following the retreat of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, he was allowed by the US to again massacre Iraqi Shi’ite Muslims by hundreds of thousands, and to desecrate the holy shrines of the Imams of the Prophet’s Household in Karbala and Najaf. Finally, in 2003 when his own godfathers, the American and the British, launched an attack to remove him, he fled and hid himself, until he was caught and jailed. The bloodthirsty Saddam was responsible for the death of several million people, including Iraqis and Iranians.