Word: basra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...though in revenge for the Iraqi bombing of Kharg Island, Iran's main outlet for oil, the week before, the Iranians also launched repeated bombing raids against the refineries of Basra, the pumping stations around Kirkuk and Mosul, and the oil port of Fao at the mouth of Shatt al Arab. Tehran even sent a few of its sophisticated U.S.-made F-14s into the war; they were flown sparingly, but according to Iranian reports their Phoenix air-to-air missiles succeeded in downing more than a dozen Iraqi...
...also a fact that food and fuel supplies were running short in some Iraqi cities. The nightly blackouts made a flashlight a precious commodity. Baghdad experienced repeated power failures as a result of the Iranian bombings. Said a doctor in Basra: "Last week our lives were not too affected, and most people thought of this as a just and honorable war that was even kind of exhilarating. Now we are starting to find out about the hard times it can bring...
...than a week, an apparently unstoppable Iraqi advance had, in fact, been halted and transformed into a stalemate in which the Iranians were more than holding their own. Before the ban, TIME Correspondent William Drozdiak was able to catch the change in the war firsthand in repeated visits to Basra, and near Khorramshahr in occupied Iran. His report...
Despite the shrill peal of air-raid sirens regularly echoing throughout the port of Basra early last week, the absence of air strikes for four days had nurtured a languid mood among the Iraqi soldiers and civilians in the town. Troops from the front lines recounted boastful tales of Iranians fleeing before their artillery barrages, while the television pumped out scenes of Iraqi attacks to martial music and announced the claim that Ahwaz, 45 miles into Iran, had just been captured. "Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day," boasted Captain Abu Rashid, beaming proudly in his black beret and crisp green...
Seldom has a war over such relatively simple issues for those waging it had so many dangerous, unpredictable and complex ramifications. A large match was lit last week in a very flammable part of the globe. The uncontrolled fires that now darken the skies over the refineries of Basra and Abadan are apt symbols for the gulf...