Sacred defense, a testimony to national heroism
September 21, 2011 - 14:16
Today coincides with the 31st anniversary of the Eight Year Sacred Defense which is an annual commemoration of the Iraqi-imposed war to the newly established Islamic Republic on September 22, 1980. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the superpowers not only lost their beneficial influences in Iran, but they were also anxious about the expansion of revolution in the other Islamic countries, so they plotted to stamp out the movement.
The Islamic Revolution had put down the domestic turmoil imposed by the counter revolutionary groups, and then the superpowers persuaded Iraq to attack Iran. By that time the Iran army was reorganizing itself, and the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) was newly- established, therefore they were not ready to plunge into the heavy war.
Sadam Hossein, the president of Iraq imagined that if he attacked Iran, he would capture Tehran after few days and stamp out the revolution, or at least would occupy Khuzestan Province and cut off the Iran’s oil income.
Consequently, on the afternoon on September 22, 1980, tens of Iraqi fighter planes attacked Iran and bombarded Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport and some other airports in different cities. Meanwhile, Khuzestan, Ilam, Kurdistan, Kermanshah provinces were blitzed by the Iraqi land forces and a war began which lasted for eight years.
All the Iranian forces especially the air force abruptly began to defend the Islamic motherland. On the next day after the war started, 140 Iranian fighters bombarded Baghdad’s sensitive positions and some other targets. Moreover, Iranians from every part of the country rushed to the battlefields and formed the revolutionary mobilization forces, a populist movement that the enemy would have never dreamed of.
Encountered with the strong resistance, Iraqi forces staged a violent attack and their fighters bombarded the battlefronts and garrisons, factories, industries and refineries, bridges and roads, even hospitals, schools and residential places, also captured thousands of innocent and armless frontiersmen.
During one-month advancement of the Iraqi forces, the international community which were under the pressure of superpowers remained silent and some Arab countries supported and strengthened Iraq politically, economically and militarily.
Despite the wonderful defense of the young and faithful people of Khuzestan Province, the city of
Khoramshar was fallen and the major part of this important port was occupied. After several weeks, the soldiers’ bold resistance finally ceased the advancement of Iraqi forces and the aggressor found it difficult to win the victory. At that stage, political delegations came to Iran to negotiate for a cease-fire. But Iran turned down the proposals until the Iraqi forces would withdrew to internationally accepted borders.
However, in the autumn of 1981, Iran’s first massive attack began and consequently the city of Abadan was released from the Iraqi occupation.
In the spring of 1982, during the “Fath- ul – mobin” operation, the Iranian soldiers managed to recapture 1500 square kilometer of Khuzestan Province and captured about 18000 Iraqi soldiers.
Another wonderful epic was the restoration of Khoramshahr, the famous and big port that had experienced brutal and rampaging attacks.
The U.S., along with Germany, France, and what was then the Soviet Union, supplied the Iraqi regime with unconventional weapons of mass destruction, including the internationally banned chemical weapons and Saddam's bombing of cities and civilian centers in Iran continued.
At the same time, the U.S. and other superpowers pressured the UN Security Council to pass sanctions resolutions against Iran. Though, the determined Iranian defense upset all Iraqi plots, and brought Saddam to the brink of defeat.
This made the U.S. and other western regimes to encourage Saddam to use chemical weapons against Iranian combatants. At the same time, the U.S. openly entered the war against Iran on the side of Iraq, by attacking Iranian oil platforms, engaging the Iranian navy in battles, scuttling the merchant ships, and finally shooting down Iran Air Flight 653 with 298 passengers on board.
Despite such crimes against humanity, the Islamic Republic of Iran continued its heroic defense of the homeland, and finally forced the UN to come with a bit fair resolution that called for determining and punishing the aggressor of the 8-year war and payment of war indemnities to the aggressed side.
Finally, UN Security Council resolution 598 was accepted but unfortunately, despite the UN's determination of Iraq as the aggressor, neither was Saddam punished nor Iran received any reparations, because of the hostile attitude of the U.S.
However, the Iranians showed to the world how dedicated they were and still are in regard to defending their homeland. They offered sacrifices in the form of tens of thousands of martyrs, and the destruction caused to the cities, but in the end they emerged victorious. The sanctions of the West and the East proved a blessing in disguise for the Iranian nation, who soon mastered intricate modern technologies in both the spheres of defense and civilian use.
Today, the Islamic Republic is self-sufficient in almost all fields and is breaking new ground in nuclear and space technology. These are undoubtedly the fruits of the Sacred Defense, and a warning to any would-be aggressor of the miserable that awaits it.