Iran Iraq War Facts
Iran Iraq War Facts
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Interesting Iran Iraq War Facts: |
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The Shatt al-Arab Waterway, which is known in Persian as the Arvand Rud, was the major point of contention between the two countries. It runs for about 120 miles, emptying into the Persian Gulf and forms a border between the two countries, although both claim it. |
Although Iran began the war with a slight numerical advantage, its military hardware was old compared to the Iraqis'. The Islamic Revolution essentially isolated Iran from both capitalist and communist worlds, while Iraq traded and worked with both the Soviet Union and the United States. |
Ruhollah Khomeini was the leader, or ayatollah, of Iran during the war. |
Iran's population and economy was three times the size of Iraq's at the start of the war. |
Most of the Iranians' military hardware was supplied by the Americans before the Islamic Revolution. They were forced to improvise to fix and keep using those weapons without American support. |
The Iraqis made great gains in the first two years of the war, but the Iranians' numbers became an issue, putting the Iraqis on the defensive for the final six years. |
Saddam Hussein ordered several chemical weapon attacks on Iran. He also ordered attacks on Kurds living in Iraq. Many of the Kurds supported the Iranians, hoping that by doing so they could achieve an independent homeland. |
The Iranians took advantage of their numerical superiority by using human wave attacks. Many of those used in the human wave attacks were boys who were told they would be martyrs. |
Although Syria was ruled by the secular Baath Party as in Iraq, its leaders were members of the Alawite Shiite clan. Because of that religious connection to Iran, Syria's leaders cut off the oil pipeline that ran from Iraq. |
Beginning in 1984, Saddam began attacking civilian targets in Iranian cities with bomber planes. The Iranians responded by attacking Bagdad and other Iraqi cities with missiles. The attacks became known as the "War of the Cities." |
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