| Siege of Basra Operation Karbala-5 The Great Harvest | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Iran–Iraq War | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Republic of Iraq |
 Iran | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Gen. al-Rashid[3] Lt. Gen. Dhia ul-Din Jamal[4] Maj. Gen. Khalil al-Dhouri Brig. Gen. Abdul-Wahid Shannan ar-Ribat[5] Brig. Gen. Riyadh Taha[5] Brig. Gen. Hassan Yusuf[5] Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Ismail[5] Brig. Gen. Hamid Salman[5] |
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani[6] Mohsen Rezaee[6] Hossein Kharrazi † Col. Ali Sayyad Shirazi Esmail Daghayeghi † | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
3rd Corps
7th Corps[7] National Defense Battalions |
Basij and Revolutionary Guards (70%): | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 300,000[citation needed] | 150,000–200,000[citation needed] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
10,000 killed 150 tanks and 10 aircraft lost[1] |
40,000 killed 218 armored vehicles 21 boats[8] | ||||||||
| ≈2 million civilians displaced | |||||||||
The siege of Basra, code-named Operation Karbala-5 (Persian: عملیات کربلای ۵) or The Great Harvest (Arabic: الحصاد الاكبر), was an offensive operation carried out by Iran in an effort to capture the Iraqi port city of Basra in early 1987. This battle, known for its extensive casualties and ferocious conditions, was the biggest battle of the war and proved to be the last major Iranian offensive. The Iranians failed to reach their objective.[9]
- ^ a b c Razoux, Pierre (2015). The Iran-Iraq War. Harvard University Press, 2015. p. 400. ISBN 978-0674915718.
- ^ Colonel Jafari, Mojtaba (2006). "Chapter 6: Sixth year, Seizing Faw". Atlas of Unforgettable Battles. Tehran: Operations Holy Defence Research Center. p. 133. ISBN 964-06-5515-5.
- ^ Pelletiere, Stephen C (10 December 1990). Lessons Learned: Iran–Iraq War. Marine Corps Historical Publication. p. 40.
- ^ Hoffpauir, Michael E. (June 1991). "Tactical Evolution in the Iraqi Army: The Abadan Island and Fish Lake campaigns of the Iran-Iraq War" (PDF). Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College: 104. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b c d e Woods, Kevin M. (2011) [2010]. Saddam's Generals: Perspectives of the Iran–Iraq War. Alexandria, VA: Institute for Defense Analyses. p. 73. ISBN 9780160896132.
- ^ a b "/خاطره اختصاصی محسن رضایی از کربلای ۵/". خبرگزاری فارس. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
- ^ Hoffpauir, Michael E. (June 1991). "Tactical Evolution in the Iraqi Army: The Abadan Island and Fish Lake campaigns of the Iran–Iraq War" (PDF). Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College: 94. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20160530073559/https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/media/csis/pubs/9005lessonsiraniraqii-chap08.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Trainor, Bernard E. (25 January 1987). "BATTLE FOR BASRA; U.S. EXPERTS STILL PUZZLED ABOUT FUTURE OF GULF WAR". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 13 May 2024.