Operation Zafar 7 - Prelude

Prelude

After Iran's failure to capture Basra during the Second Battle of Basra (Operation Karbala-5), Iran's military entered a period of self reflection, and possible decline. Iranian morale was decreasing, and many of their experienced infantry from the Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) became casualties. Consequently, the Iranians increasingly relied on their regular army to fight the war. In addition to the army being conscription based, the Iranians became increasingly war-weary. The front in the south of Iraq had become a stalemate. Iran was unable to penetrate the massive Iraqi defenses. Meanwhile, Iraq for the time being remained unable to drive the Iranians back, but they had begun to rearm with the help of the United States and the west, and were practicing maneuvers to attack Iran. By 1988, Iraq grossly outnumbered Iran. Nevertheless, Iranian commanders remained skilled and adept. They focused on tactics that would negate superior Iraqi firepower. Nevertheless, they were unable to capture cities in southern Iraq due to both poor logistics, shortages of armor, and Iraqi firepower. Iran's leadership also announced that they would arm and support opposition groups inside of Iraq. One of those opponents was the Peshmerga, the Kurdistan resistance force, and primarily launch limited offensives of their own.

While the war in the south had bogged down into a stalemate, Iran began focusing on Kurdistan, which was in a mountainous region in northern Iraq. Being mountainous and thus unsuitable for armored warfare, Iran had launched multiple attacks starting from late 1987 to early 1988. They were supported by the Peshmerga, which they helped and gave supplies to. While Iran would not capture any major cities, with the help of the Peshmerga's guerilla warfare, using area denial tactics, large swaths of Kurdistan were rendered outside of Iraqi government control. Saddam Hussein ordered the genocidal Al-Anfal Campaign, resulting in 200,000 rebels and civilians murdered (one of the biggest mass murders in history). This attacks were led by Saddam's favorite deputy Ali Hassan al-Majid, infamously known as "Chemical Ali" due to his use of poison gas against civilians. Nevertheless, with Iranian support, the Iraqi attempts were unsuccessful, and were a major headache for Saddam and his deputies.