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Operation Forty Stars(Persian:عملیات چلچراغ), also known asOperation Forty Lights,orChelcheraq,was a military operation conducted by thePeople's Mujahedin of Iran(MEK) at the closing stages of theIran–Iraq Waron 18 June 1988.[4]The goal was to occupy the Iranian border city ofMehranto control its oil fields, as well asKurdishvillages in the region.
| Operation Forty Stars | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theIran–Iraq War | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 PMOI Ba'athist Iraq(disputed, denied by PMOI and Iraq) |
 Iran | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Massoud Rajavi |
Ruhollah KhomeiniAkbar Hashemi RafsanjaniAli Shahbazi | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 22 PMOI brigades | 16,000(PMOI claim) | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
PMOI 71 dead(PMOI claim) 240 wounded(PMOI claim)[1] Thousands dead(Iranian claim)[1] |
8,000 dead and wounded(PMOI claim)[1] 1,500–3,000 captured[2][3] 40 tanks 20 APCs numerous 155mm and 130mm artillery pieces numerousTOW ATGMs numerousHAWK SAMbatteries, and hundreds of small arms, mortars and machineguns captured[1][2] | ||||||||
In four days, the People's Mujahedin of Iran wiped out aPasdarandivision, seizing Mehran and building a bridgehead twelve miles into Iran.[5]
The battle
editAccording to theCenter for Strategic and International Studies,on the night of Saturday 18 June, the MEK/PMOI launched the operation. By employing 530 ground-attack sorties with fighter aircraft and helicopter gunships, they crushed the Iranian forces in the area around Mehran, killing or wounding 3,500 and nearly destroying a Revolutionary Guard division. Finally, The Iranian town ofMehranwas captured and occupied by the MEK/PMOI and Iraqi forces. The MEK/PMOI forces captured several heights around the city, and took several supply dumps intact, enough to equip and supply 2 divisions. Booty included manyToyota Land Cruisers.[6]
According to the MEK, Iraqi soldiers did not participate in the operation. Baghdad also said it was not involved in the battle, withTime magazinereporting that "Iraq did claim that its forces had recaptured the oil-rich Majnoun islands east of the Tigris River, where Iranian defenders had been entrenched since 1984."[7][8]
In June 1988, Tehran radio said Iranian forces had wounded or killed 3,000 Iraqi soldiers. According to the statement and a report byAPNews agency, 8,000 Iranians were killed or wounded and more than 1,500 captured in the battle, and about 16,000 Iranians were involved.[1] The Iraqi forces left the area after three days, and the MEK/PMOI forces remained there. Iranian defense forces killed all remaining MEK/PMOI forces inside Iranian territory inMersad operation.[6]Finally, both sides of the war had officially accepted the ceasefire on 20 July 1988.
Aftermath
editIt was a severe defeat for the Iranian forces, who lost a large amount of intact equipment, along with many troops killed or captured. Iraq also launched a wide-scalestrategic bombingcampaign on Iranian population centres and economic targets, setting 10 oil installations and six crude oil production plants in Ahwaz on fire and two pumping stations atBibi Hakimehas well as the destruction of other facilities atGachsaran.Moreover, the bombing campaign included strikes on power stations, natural gas plants and offshore oil facilities.[6]
On 26 July 1988, Iranian forces launchedOperation Mersad,and took back Mehran from MEK forces.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^abcdeBlanche, Ed (23 June 1988)."Iranian Rebels Withdraw; Iran Claims to Repel Iraqi Assault".Associated Press News.Retrieved4 February2019.
- ^ab"CORI Research Analysis"(PDF).CORI. 21 September 2009.
- ^"The Gulf: Fraternal Drubbing".Time.4 July 1988.Retrieved7 May2019.
Baghdad denied any involvement in the battle. At week's end, however, Iraq did claim that its forces had recaptured the oil-rich Majnoun islands east of the Tigris River, where Iranian defenders had been entrenched since 1984.
- ^Piazza, James A. (October 1994). "The Democratic Islamic Republic of Iran in Exile".Digest of Middle East Studies.3(4):9–43.doi:10.1111/j.1949-3606.1994.tb00535.x.
On June 19, 1988, the NLA launched its offensive entitled Chetel Setareh or "40 Stars" in which twenty-two organized brigades of Mojahedin recaptured the city of Mehran, which the regime had wrested from Iraqi control after the Mojahedin had set up its "provisional government" there. The Mojahedin claimed that absolutely no Iraqi soldiers participated in this operation, and Iraqi Culture and Information Minister, Latif Nusayyif Jasim, later denied that Iraq had deployed air units to help the NLA or had used chemical weapons to drive the Islamic Republic's troops from Mehran.
- ^Razoux, Pierre (2015).The Iran-Iraq War.Harvard University Press.ISBN9780674915718.
- ^abc"The Combination of Iraqi offensives and Western intervention force Iran to accept a cease-fire: September 1987 to March 1989".The Lessons of Modern War – Volume II: Iran–Iraq War(PDF).Center for Strategic and International Studies. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 7 June 2013.Retrieved17 October2012.
- ^Piazza, James A. (October 1994). "The Democratic Islamic Republic of Iran in Exile".Digest of Middle East Studies.3(4):9–43.doi:10.1111/j.1949-3606.1994.tb00535.x.
On June 19, 1988, the NLA launched its offensive entitled Chehel Setareh or "40 Stars" in which twenty-two organized brigades of Mojahedin recaptured the city of Mehran, which the regime had wrested from Iraqi control after the Mojahedin had set up its "provisional government" there. The Mojahedin and claimed that absolutely no Iraqi soldiers participated in this operation, and Iraqi Culture and Information Minister, Latif Nusayyif Jasim, later denied that Iraq had deployed air units to help the NLA or had used chemical weapons to drive the Islamic Republic's troops from Mehran.
- ^"The Gulf: Fraternal Drubbing".Time.4 July 1988.
External links
edit
Media related toOperation Chelcheraghat Wikimedia Commons
External links
edit- THE COMBINATION OF IRAQI OFFENSIVES AND WESTERN INTERVENTION FORCE IRAN TO ACCEPT A CEASE-FIRE: SEPTEMBER 1987 TO MARCH 1989Archived7 June 2013 at theWayback Machine