If you remember, we talked about the launching of a serial of operations named Val-Fajr. This serial of operations was designed and put into effect with a broad plan in the minds of the Iranian commanders to liberate as vast regions from the Iraqi occupation as possible.

It seemed that some of the previously applied war strategies and methods were no more useful. Thus, the commanders of the Islamic Republic army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps discussed new methods to attack the enemy ranks to bring the Ba'athist war machine to its knees.

In view of severely limited access to weapons and equipment, two methods were thought over by commanders. The first method was to surprise the enemy forces through sudden assaults at night. The second method was the usage of massive fire to support the infantry forces. Val-Fajr 1 operation was designed and commanded by the Iranian army. In this operation, although terrible blow was inflicted on the infantry and mechanized units of the Ba'athist enemy, the army and the IRGC could not achieve all their goals.

The preliminary Val-Fajr and Val-Fajr 1 operations couldn't achieve all the preplanned goals; hence, the possibility of conducting successful operations in the southern area was doubted. Therefore, the attention of the commanders was drawn to the west of the country to design operations. For the first two years of war, most of the major operations were carried out in Khuzestan province, so the Ba'athist army was distracted from the operational areas of the west. After extensive discussion, the plans for three operations were outlined: Val-Fajr 2, in the operational area of Haj Imran, Val-Fajr 3 in Mehran and Val-Fajr 4, in Panjvein, inside Iraq.

With regard to previous achievements, the designers were of the opinion that operations on the western borders of the country should have three features. First, in view of the consequences of preliminary Val-Fajr and Val-Fajr 1 operations, it should be launched quickly. Secondly, the operation should be conducted with a small number of forces to reduce casualties and losses. Thirdly, small-scale operations in the west should be implemented in a way to guarantee victory of major operations later on.

With this in mind, Val-Fajr 2 operation began in Haj Imran area on Wednesday, July 20, 1983. The main purpose of this operation was to liberate the borders of the country by capturing the important heights of the region, advancing inside the Iraqi territory and capturing the garrison which was overlooking the city of Choman Mostafa. By carrying out this operation, the towns and villages along the border would be out of fire range of the Iraqi army and people would enjoy more calm and comfort as a result of being out the reach of the invaders. Moreover, once this operation was launched, one of the major routes of movement of the counter-revolutionary outfits- Democrat and Komoleh parties- would be blocked on Tamrchin border and the course of the guerilla forces of Iran and the anti-Ba'athist Kurdish parties would be facilitated into Iraqi Kurdistan. As usual the operation was planned and implemented with the cooperation of the army and the IRGC. The Barzani Kurds, too, cooperated with the Iranian forces. During the operation, the major gorges of Tamrchin, Azadi and Rayad were released and the pass of Choman Mostafa came under fire.

The Iraqi army made much effort and launched a heliborne operation to retake Haj Imran garrison. The Ba'athist regime even used chemical gases for the first time since the outbreak of the war. The chemical attack with mustard gas was launched when Iranian soldiers were advancing from the mountain peaks to Haj Imran, and Iraqi forces were on the mountain bases. But during the operation, seven Iraqi helicopters and three planes were downed and the operation failed. Due to the unfamiliarity of the Iraqi forces with the properties of chemical gases, these gases were scattered on the heights and hurt the Iraqi forces deployed at the heights and adjacent valleys.

In Val-Fajr operations, about 200 square kilometers of Iraqi territories were captured and about 50 enemy outposts were captured by Muslim combatants. About 3,000 Iraqi forces were killed or injured, and 200 others were captured. Some booties fell in the hand of Iranian forces, including the radar which tracked the direction of artillery and mortar shells, and it became clear that the enemy was attacking Iranian artillery shells and mortar launchers with the help of the radar. About 300 Iranian combatants were martyred and 1400 were injured during Val-Fajr 2 operation.

Ten days after Val-Fajr 2 operation, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps conducted Val-Fajr 3 operation to liberate the city of Mehran. The city was occupied by the Iraqi army in the beginning of the imposed war. The operation was carried out on August 14 with the codename Ya Allah (O God) in Mehran and Zorbatiya region of Iraq. Iranian forces rushed to the positions of the Iraqi units on three axes, so that they could free the city of Mehran and seize the targets. The operation lasted for 13 days, during which a number of border heights, including the Zaluaab and Qalavizan heights, were seized and the Mehran-Dehloran and Mehran-Eilam roads were liberated. In this operation, 500 invading forces were captured and nearly 5,000 were killed or injured. In the course of the operation, Saddam rushed to Zorbatiya and immediately executed two commanders of the 417^th brigade whom he considered as cowardly and responsible for the defeat.

The success of the two operations of Val-Fajr 2 and Val-Fajr 3 put the initiative in Iran's hand and gave the authorities the hope to continue launching of such operations. Furthermore, Iran's decisive victory in these two operations urged Iraq's supporters to funnel more weapons and equipment to Iraq and provide Saddam with more foreign credit.

RM/SS