Operation Mersad

Operation Forough Javidan/Mersad
Part of the Iran–Iraq War

Burned-out vehicles in the aftermath of Operation Mersad
Date26–30 July 1988
(4 days)
Location
Result

Iranian victory[1]

Territorial
changes

Status quo ante bellum

Belligerents
Mojahedin-e-Khalq
 Iran
Commanders and leaders
Massoud Rajavi
Units involved
Strength
7,000 MEK troops[1]

300 tanks
unknown number of artillery pieces and aircraft
210,000 Iranians engaged
1,200,000 total
365 tanks
unknown number of artillery pieces and aircraft
Casualties and losses

1,500 to 2,506 KIA (Iranian claim)[2]
1,263 KIA, WIA, MIA, POW (MEK claim)[3]
2,000 KIA (independent estimate)[4]
several thousand hanged for treason[5]

200 Tanks destroyed (Iranian claim[6])
400 APCs
90 pieces of 80mm mortar
150 pieces of 60mm mortar
30 pieces of 106mm recoilless rifles[citation needed]
480 KIA (Iranian claim)[7]

Operation Forough Javidan (Persian: عملیات فروغ جاویدان, lit. Operation Eternal Light, MeK's codename) and Operation Mersad (Persian: عملیات مرصاد, lit. Operation Ambush, Iranian codename) were among the last major military operations of the Iran–Iraq War.

In July 1988, 7,000 militants from the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) invaded Iran, hoping to capture Kermanshah.[1] Led by Lieutenant-General Ali Sayad Shirazi, Operation Mersad began on 26 July 1988 and lasted only a few days, whereby the Iranian Armed Forces defeated MEK forces.

  1. ^ a b c Farrokh, Kaveh (20 December 2011). Iran at War: 1500–1988. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 413–414. ISBN 978-1-78096-221-4.
  2. ^ a b c d Yaghoub Nemati Voroujeni (Summer 2012), "Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK) Organization in the Imposed War", Negin-e-Iran (in Persian), 41 (11): 75–96, archived from the original on 18 November 2016, retrieved 2 December 2016
  3. ^ بخشهایی از گزارش نهایی ستاد فرماندهی ارتش آزادیبخش ملی ایران درباره عملیات بزرگ فروغ جاویدان ـ ۸ شهریور ۱۳۶۷
  4. ^ "The Cult of Rajavi" by Elizabeth Rubin. New York Times, 13 July 2003
  5. ^ Lamb, Christina (19 June 2001). "Khomeini fatwa 'led to killing of 30,000 in Iran'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 29 March 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference reference3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "روایت حاج سعید از عملیات مرصاد". YouTube.