July 13 – August 1982 · Southern Iraq / Basra front Theater
July 13 – August 1982
Iran's first major offensive into Iraqi territory, launching 100,000 IRGC and Basij troops toward Basra across flat, open terrain. Mass infantry waves attacked fortified Iraqi positions in daylight. Iraq, fighting defensively on its own soil, met them with tanks, artillery, and the first systematic use of chemical agents against mass formations. The assault waves achieved local breakthroughs but were thrown back with catastrophic casualties. An estimated 80,000 men died in a month of fighting that shifted no significant territory.
Commanders