Word: baghdad
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Iranian offensive, which had been expected for months, was remarkably successful in its first two days. The assault troops crossed the marshes and set up positions on the banks of the Tigris; a few units even crossed the river on pontoon bridges to the vicinity of the highway between Baghdad and Basra, Iraq's second city. When the Iraqis eventually counterattacked with heavy concentrations of armor and artillery, the Iranians dug in and fought back. That they had put up a valiant struggle was demonstrated by the burned- out hulks of Iraqi tanks and armored personnel carriers littering the battlefield...
...Tigris and advanced from the north and south. They brought vastly superior firepower to bear--helicopter gunships, heavy artillery, armor and air support --and in the end, that carried the day. "Getting the Iranian troops deployed in the marshes was a tremendous logistical accomplishment," a Western military attache in Baghdad explained last week, "but very few of those who got in will be able...
...past, both sides wildly exaggerated the battle results. Iraq claimed to have killed 27,200 Iranians, while Iran said its forces had killed or wounded 12,000 Iraqis. Independent analysts in Baghdad estimated that Iran had committed as many as 30,000 to 40,000 troops to the attack and that its dead might range as high as 15,000. The Iranian casualties were thought to have exceeded Iraq's by a ratio...
Without admitting defeat, Tehran acknowledged that the battle was over, declaring that "the final operation, which will be our last reply to the Zionist enemy (Iraq), will undoubtedly be of greater scope and will enjoy heavier firepower." Soon after Baghdad proclaimed the end of the battle, truckloads of singing Iraqi soldiers made their way north to the capital. So did fleets of white-and-orange taxis carrying coffins on their roof racks, the caskets draped in Iraqi flags...
...week, both sides had broken an agreement, arranged nine months ago by the United Nations, to refrain from hitting civilian targets. Iraq, desperate to break the prevailing stalemate, was first to violate the accord with air raids against Iranian cities and towns. The response was swift: sirens wailed in Baghdad as Iranian jets swooped in, hitting a huge housing development called Saddam City. In the various attacks on civilians, at least 500 people were killed on both sides...