Word: shatt
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...depriving Iran of most of its domestic fuel supply. The Iranian Oil Ministry imposed a drastic rationing of home heating oil, following earlier restrictions on gasoline. The fall of Khorramshahr gave Iraqi President Saddam Hussein his first major victory. It also left the Iraqis in complete control of the Shatt al Arab and bolstered their military position as they continued assaults not only on Abadan but also on the other key Khuzistan cities of Ahwaz and Dezful. Iraq's First Deputy Prime Minister, Tana Yasin Ramadan, reportedly stated that Baghdad's objective was to take not only...
Meanwhile Iran and Iraq were slugging it out like determined but weary boxers, unable to land a knockout punch but also unwilling to call it quits. As it had for weeks, the struggle raged over control of the crucial Shatt al Arab waterway. After pummeling the ancient port city of Khorramshahr, the Iraqis laid siege to the Iranian refinery center of Abadan. The Iraqi advance was slowed by the fierce resistance of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, an Islamic militia passionately supportive of the ideals and fulminations of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. Meanwhile, the surprisingly effective Iranian air force hit back...
...attrition along the Shatt al Arab was overshadowed last week by the diplomatic efforts to end the fighting?and by political maneuvers to exploit it. Like the fighting, the diplomacy and the politics could have consequences for the entire Middle East and perhaps for the world. Throughout history, war has often resulted in the reordering of international relations, and it has often been true that the longer and bloodier the war, the more divisive the political aftermath...
Though a breakthrough continued to elude them, Iraqi forces were tightening a noose around the ports of Khorramshahr and Abadan on the bank of the Shatt al Arab waterway. Buttressed by batteries of 130-mm artillery, an estimated 9,000 Iraqi infantrymen, using three pontoon bridges, succeeded in crossing the Karun River. Their military command declared it "Iraq's largest amphibious assault ever." From that bridgehead Iraqi tanks fanned southward to surround both Khorramshahr and Abadan. The Iranians charged that the Iraqis bombarded both cities with artillery and with surface-to-surface missiles. Eyewitnesses said the carnage among civilians...
...century is trumpeted at every turn. Radio and television keep up a drumbeat of patriotic poems set to martial music. The propaganda has had some impact. Many Baghdadis feel that their country is not only waging a war against a traditional enemy that gained control of the Shatt al Arab waterway by exploiting Iraqi weakness, but spearheading a patriotic, nationalist cause for the entire Arab world...