Operation Forty Stars

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Operation Forty Stars
Part of the Iran–Iraq War
Date18 June 1988
Location
Mehran County, Iran
Result

MEK/Iraqi victory, seizure of Mehran

  • Successful MEK/Iraqi offensive
  • Iranian defensive failure
Belligerents


  Iran
Commanders and leaders
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
numerous TOW ATGMs
numerous HAWK SAM batteries, and hundreds of small arms, mortars and machineguns captured[1][2]

Operation Forty Stars (Persian: عملیات چلچراغ), also known as Operation Forty Lights, or Chelcheraq, was a military operation conducted by the MEK and the Iraqi military at the closing stages of the Iran–Iraq War on 18 June 1988. According to the MEK, the Iraqi army did not participate in this operation.[4] The goal was to occupy the Iranian border city of Mehran to control its oil fields, as well as Kurdish villages in the region.

In four days, the People's Mujahedin of Iran wiped out the Pasdaran division, seizing Mehran and building a bridgehead twelve miles into Iran.[5]

Background[]

The Iran–Iraq War had been ongoing for nearly 8 years. The Iraqis, rearmed by foreign allies, were retaking the initiative for the first time since the beginning of the war in April 1988. They launched several major offensives to liberate their own territory in Iraq, as well as launched renewed offensives into Iran and occupying dozens of towns, as a way to pressure Khomeini to accept a ceasefire. Prior to the battle, the Iraqi military deployed large amounts of armor and chemical weapons opposite to the Iranian border town of Mehran (in which several battles had been fought earlier, and now was in ruins).[6]

Saddam Hussein helped the MEK group, and let the MEK group moved from Iran to a base in Iraq, called Camp Ashraf.[citation needed] On 18 June 1988, Operation Forty Stars (Persian: Chehel Cheragh) was one of those battles, planned in conjunction with the Iranian opposition group the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), which was actively collaborating with Iraq. While Iraq would support the attack with armor, artillery, air power, and chemical weapons, the bulk of the infantry operations would be carried out by the MEK forces.[6][7]

The battle[]

On the night of Saturday 18 June, Iraq launched the operation with the help of the MEK, which had been trained and armed in Iraq. By employing nerve gas and 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.[8] Finally, The Iranian town of Mehran was captured and occupied by the combined MEK and Iraqi forces.[8] The Iraqi and MEK forces captured several heights around the city, and took several supply dumps intact, enough to equip and supply 2 divisions. Booty included many Toyota Land Cruisers.[8]

The Iraqi army used 3,000 of MEK's members during the operation. The goal of occupying Mehran was, firstly achieving its oil fields, and secondly by using Persian language penetrate into Iranian territory and control Kurdish villages in the region. Three MEK battalions cooperated with Iraqi forces. The MEK forces in some instances may have been dressed as Iranian army soldiers, which helped them to ambush Iranian defensive forces and killing them or capturing them. At the end, MEK occupied Mehran in the morning of the next day. According to the statement and a report by AP News 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 MEK forces remained there. Iranian defense forces killed all remained MEK forces inside Iran territory in Mersad operation.[8] Finally, both side of war had officially accepted ceasefire on 20 July 1988.[6]

Aftermath[]

The Iraqis later withdrew back across the border on the night of 21 June, leaving the MEK forces in occupation of the area.[1] It 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-scale strategic bombing campaign 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 at Bibi Hakimeh as well as the destruction of other facilities at Gachsaran. Moreover, the bombing campaign included strikes on power stations, natural gas plants and offshore oil facilities.[8]

On 26 July 1988, Iranian forces launched Operation Mersad, and took back Mehran from MEK forces.

See also[]

Bibliography[]

http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/9005lessonsiraniraqii-chap10.pdf

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Blanche, Ed (23 June 1988). "Iranian Rebels Withdraw; Iran Claims to Repel Iraqi Assault". Associated Press. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  2. ^ a b http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4ac9c2c52.pdf[bare URL]
  3. ^ "The Gulf: Fraternal Drubbing". Time. 4 July 1988. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  4. ^ 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 untis to help the NLA or had used chemical weapons to drive the Islamic Republic’s troops from Mehran.
  5. ^ Razoux, Pierre (2015). The Iran-Iraq War. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674915718.
  6. ^ a b c Hiro, Dilip (1989). The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict (illustrated ed.). the University of Michigan: Grafton Books. p. 312. ISBN 9780246133762. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  7. ^ H. Cordesman, Anthony; Wagner, Abraham (1990). The Lessons Of Modern War. Avalon Publishing. p. 1040. ISBN 9780813313535. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d e "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.

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