Operation Fath ol-Mobin

Operation Fath ol-Mobin
Operation Fath-ol-Mobin (a Quranic phrase meaning "Undeniable Victory" or "Manifest Victory") was a major Iranian military operation conducted during the Iran–Iraq War, in March 1982. The operation was led by Lt. General Ali Sayad Shirazi, and was conducted in four phases.
Some believe that this operation was the turning point in the war and that it led to the eviction of Iraqi troops from Khuzestan. Others (including Efraim Karsh) believe it was actually the operation working in tandem with others which led to the expulsion of Iraqi troops from southern Iran. He believes that in fact, Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas, which lasted from April to May 1982, had the greatest effect, because the Iranians were able to liberate the strategically important city of Khorramshahr.
Prelude
On 22 September 1980, Saddam Hussein, attempting to copy the success of the Israeli pre-emptive air strike against the Arab air forces in the Six-Day War, launched numerous sorties against Iranian air fields, hoping to destroy the Iranian air force on the ground. Although they failed, Saddam was still not going to be prevented from achieving his aim of establishing complete Iraqi dominance over the Shatt al-Arab, called Arvand Rood in Iran (Persian: اروند رود) waterway. He launched a land invasion of Iran, focusing on southern Iran.
He was able to achieve success, capturing the major Iranian city of Khorramshahr. Although the Iraqis were not able to capture the city of Abadan, the way was open to Tehran as the Iranian defenses had collapsed. The Iraqi advance was halted at the Karun and Karkheh rivers respectively and now Iran was able to counter-attack; although their previous counter-attacks had ended in failure, this one would be successful.
The battle
On 22 March 1982, precisely 18 months to the day of the Iraqi invasion, the Iranians launched Operation Fath ol-Mobin. They intended to use a pincer movement to encircle Iraqi forces who had halted outside the Iranian town of Shush. Under the command of the young Iranian Chief-of-Staff, Lieutenant General Ali Sayad Shirazi, the Iranians launched an armored thrust on the night of the 22nd followed by constant human-wave attacks by Pasdaran and Basij brigades, each composed of about 1,000 fighters.
The Iranians suffered much greater casualties than the Iraqis, because the Iranian attack at times involved massive unsupported frontal assaults made by the Pasdaran and Basij. The Iranian forces still had to contend with an Iraqi army which was entrenched on the front-line and they enjoyed a good amount of tank, artillery, and aerial support. The Iranians kept up the momentum against the Iraqi forces and, after heavy Iraqi losses, Saddam ordered a retreat on the 28th. Three Iraqi divisions were encircled in the operation and destroyed within a week.
Aftermath
Along with Operation Tariq al-Qods and Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas, the Iranians were able to evict the Iraqi forces from southern Iran. The wider operation to re-capture Khuzestan is rightly to be considered a turning point. The Iranians had succeeded in achieving their standing aim of reversing the gains made by the Iraqi armed forces in the initial stages of the Iran-Iraq War. Afterward, the Iranian hardliners, headed by the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, argued for the expansion of Iranian war operations into Iraq. They eventually succeeded in getting their way, and the Iranians commenced several operations to conquer territory.
But where the Iranians successfully used combined-arms operations to emerge victorious against the Iraqi troops in Iran, they relied upon unsupported human wave attacks by the poorly trained and lightly equipped troops of the Pasdaran and the Basij with an insufficient logistics capability.
The Iraqis eventually stabilized their armed forces after their retreat from Iran. The result was that the Iranians would not be able to press their determined, but futile, assaults against a resurgent Iraqi army. Iraq was supported by both the United States and the Soviet Union who saw Saddam's regime as a much better option than Khomeini's regime.
Units
Iran
Karbala Central Command Commanded by Lt. Gen. Ali Sayyad Shirazi
Qods Command
Army:
84th Infantry Brigade of Khorramabad
3 battalions
92nd Armored Division of Khuzestan
2nd Brigade
3 battalions
IRGC:
41st Tharallah Brigade Commanded by Qassem Soleimani
6 battalions
3rd Imam Hossein Brigade Commanded by Hossein Kharrazi
9 battalions
Ilam corps
Several units
Nasr Command Commanded by Sardar Hassan Baqeri and Amir Hossein Hassani Saadi
Army:
21st Hamzeh Infantry Division of Azarbaijan (10 battalions overall)
1st Brigade
2nd Brigade
3rd Brigade
58th Zolfaqar Takavar Brigade
4 battalions
IRGC:
7th Vali-e-Asr Brigade
9 battalions
27th Mohammad Rasulollah Brigade Commanded by Ahmad Motevaselian
Habib ibn Madhahir Battalion Commanded by Mohsen Vezvaei
8 other battalions
Fajr Command
Army:
77th Infantry Division of Khorasan
3 brigades
IRGC:
33rd Al-Mahdi Brigade
6 battalions
46th Fajr Brigade
5 battalions
17th Ali ibn Abi Taleb Brigade
6 battalions
35th Imam Sajjad Brigade
11 battalions
Fath Command
Army:
92nd Armored Division of Khuzestan
1st Brigade
37th Armored Brigade of Shiraz
55th Airborne Brigade of Shiraz
IRGC:
8th Najaf Ashraf Brigade
8 battalions
25th Karbala Brigade
Unnamed artillery units
Unnamed combat engineer and Construction Jihad engineer units
Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation
Source:
Iraq
1st Mechanized Division
34th Armored Brigade
51st Armored Brigade
1st Mechanized Brigade
27th Mechanized Brigade
93rd Infantry Brigade
96th Infantry Brigade
109th Infantry Brigade
426th Infantry Brigade
4 artillery battalions
3rd Armored Division
6th Armored Brigade
12th Armored Brigade
8th Mechanized Brigade
3 artillery battalions
6th Armored Division
25th Mechanized Brigade
7th Infantry Division
19th Infantry Brigade
38th Infantry Brigade
9th Armored Division
14th Mechanized Brigade
35th Armored Brigade
43rd Armored Brigade
10th Armored Division
17th Armored Brigade
42nd Armored Brigade
51st Armored Brigade
60th Armored Brigade
24th Mechanized Brigade
55th Infantry Brigade
99th Infantry Brigade
423rd Infantry Brigade
505th Infantry Brigade
4 artillery battalions
12th Armored Division
10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 603rd, 604th, 605th Brigades
Republican Guard
10th Armored Brigade (backup)
91st Infantry Brigade
92nd Infantry Brigade
5th Border Guard Brigade
9 commando battalions
Popular Army
217th Artillery Battalion
Iraqi Air Force
Iraqi Army Air Corps
References
Bibliography
The Iran–Iraq War, 1980–1988; Karsh, Efraim; Osprey Publishing; 2002
Iran at War: 1500–1988; Farrokh, Kaveh; General Military; 2011, p. 363
Fath ol-Mobin
History of Khuzestan Province