In the previous program we talked about the bravery of the female defenders of Khorramshahr against the Iraqi Ba'athist army.

We also talked about the memories of a 17-year-old girl named Seyyedeh Zahra Hosseini whose name has gained eternity in the literature of the holy defense as her memories of those days have been gathered in a book titled “Da” Da means mother in Kurdish. You also heard that Zahra Hosseini's family was among the Iranians residing in Basra who were expelled from Iraq before the victory of the Islamic Revolution and resided in Khorramshahr. The memories of this Iranian lady are only part of the Iranian people’s resistance for safeguarding the revolution and defending their country against the invasion of Saddam’s criminal regime.

The resistances of people in Khuzestan, especially in Khorramshahr, and several actions by the Air Force and the Navy in the first days of the war, paralyzed the Iraqi army and Saddam. Just a few days after the Iraqi invasion, the Islamic Republic’s Navy destroyed two oil platforms, Al-Amya and Al-Bakr. Thus Iraq’s oil export from the Persian Gulf was disrupted till the end of the war in 1988. The Islamic Republic's Army Air Force, immediately after the start of the war, attacked Iraqi strategic centers by 140 airplanes in an operation called Kaman 99.

In this great operation, the superiority of the Iranian air force over the Iraqi Ba'athist regime and its western and eastern supporters was fully revealed. The pilots of the Islamic Republic's fighter jets showed that, without US advisers, they were able to fly the world's most advanced fighters. The response of the Iranian air force and navy to the invasion of Saddam's regime and the resistance of the military and people in towns and villages showed to Saddam that all his assessments of the military might of the Islamic Republic of Iran were wrong. Daily Guardian, on August 27, 1980, wrote in this regard: "The Iraqi armed forces had not a good week. Iraq has neither gained considerable victories nor superficial victory." German radio said: "Iraq has not succeeded at all in the ongoing useless war that was aimed at overthrowing Khomeini's regime. This war, despite what Iraq thought has strengthened Iran's position.” On October 1, 1980, Financial Times wrote: "What the Iraqi leaders lacked was the capability and readiness of the Iranian people and their gathering around the manifestations of their revolution that were still in the excitement of a religious and political movement." One of the Iraqi commanders, analyzing the failure of the Iraqi army and emphasizing their lack of access to correct information, said: "If the commanding headquarters wanted to make a decision to attack Iran, it was necessary to give the units very accurate information but the information given on the likely resistance was incorrect.”

The military power of the Iraqi Ba'athist regime in the invasion of the Islamic Republic was not matched by the enemy's goals due to the revolutionary resistance of the people, the state of the land and the depths of the Islamic Republic territory and other natural obstacles. Thus, the Iraqi war machine was destroyed from the first weeks of the war on the vast Khuzestan province, and thus lost the ability to continue the effective invasion. The Iraqi army could not strengthen the South Front, and the 3^rd Division never had the ability and opportunity to cross Bahman Shir River. This disparity of forces, the shortage of force, and stiff resistance on widespread fronts prevented any effective advancement and forced them to remain in defensive state, build fortifications and consolidate their positions. So, Saddam immediately after investigating the situation of the war on August 29, 1980, a week after the invasion of the Islamic Republic, said: "Iraq has achieved its territorial goals and its country is willing to abandon hostilities and negotiate." The analyses that military experts provided just one week after the start of the war, stressed that although Iraq advanced in most axes of the aggression it was very slow, and this signaled the failure of Iraq's strategy to invade the Islamic Republic. The announcement of Saddam's unilateral cease-fire was also evidence of this. One Iraqi commander said: "When Saddam asked for a ceasefire on August 28, 1980, he was completely convinced that the Iraqi army was not capable of carrying out its duty."

On October 18, 1980, daily Financial Times, regarding declaration of unilateral ceasefire by the Iraqi dictator wrote: "Iran-Iraq war, both tactically and strategically, has reached to a stalemate. Therefore, Iraq tries to find a mediator for declaring a truce between the two sides." German magazine, Spiegel, wrote on the failure of Iraq and the buying of time for better preparation of the combatants of Islam: “The war, as Saddam hoped, did not cause the overthrow of the Iranian regime, nor did it cause the Arab uprising in Khuzestan to support Baghdad against the Iranian government. The Iraqi forces have aimlessly been on the border areas for months. The irresponsibility of the Iraqis gave Iranians the opportunity to take control of the tumultuous circumstances of the revolution and provide the necessary preparations for the fronts."

FK/RM/ME