Battles
Operation Zafar 5 (Islamic Republic of Iran Army)
Azam-Sadat Hussaini
25 دورہ
Operation Zafar 5, planned and executed by the 30th Gorgan Division of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Force, took place in 1985 in Penjwin, northwest of Iran.
There had been several military engagements between Iranian and Iraqi forces in Penjwin (a city in the Suleimaniyeh Province of Iraq). This area, located in the northwestern front and the two axes of Toutman-Penjwin and Miyaneh Valley had special significance.[1] In 1983, Operation Valfajr 4 was carried out on October 19th in the northwest part of the country. This operation was conducted jointly by the Army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in three stages. In the first stage, approximately seventy square kilometers of Iraqi territory were liberated. In the second stage, which began on October 21st, many areas, including the heights around Penjwin, were captured by Iranian forces, and they gained complete control over the city of Penjwin.[2] In Operation Zafar 5, the forces of the 30th Gorgan Division of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Force liberated a key height near Penjwin in the Toutman region.[3]
Operation Zafar 5 began at 1:00 AM on Thursday, July 4, 1985 with the code-name “Ya Sahib al-Zaman (as)”. Crossing minefields and the enemy positions, the Iranian forces managed to penetrate deep into Iraqi defensive lines and capture the heights in Toutman.[4]
Also, carrying out intermittent artillery and mortar fire on Iraqi positions in the Toutman operational area enabled the Iranians to defeat the Baathist army, oversee the movements of the Iraqi troops and destroy their observation posts.[5]
During this operation, Iranian forces destroyed thirty individual bunkers, six light vehicles, five ammunition depots, and a bulldozer. They also captured a number of the Iraqis’ weapons and radios. The casualties inflicted on Iraqi forces during this operation were about one hundred, with twenty killed and eighty wounded.[6]
Another operation by the same name took place in January 1988 on the northwest of Iran under the command of the Ramazan Headquarters, in cooperation with the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq, the independent Shahadat Battalion, and units of the 58th Malik Ashtar Division.[7]
[1] Jafari, Mojtaba, Atlas-e Nabardhaye Mandegar (The Atlas of Enduring Battles), Tehran: Soreh Sabz, 35th edition, 1393, p. 108.
[2] Dorudian, Muhammad, Siri dar Jang Iran va Araq, Vol. 2: Khorramshahr ta Faw (A Journey through the Iran-Iraq War, Vol. 2: From Khorramshahr to Faw), Tehran: Markaz-e Asnad va Tahqiqat Defa Muqaddas, 9th edition, 1389, Pp. 77-80.
[3] Jafari, Mojtaba, Atlas-e Nabardhaye Mandegar (The Atlas of Enduring Battles), p. 108.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Rouznamey-e Jomhouri Eslami (Jomhouri Eslami Newspaper), No. 1767, 15 Mordad 1364, p. 2.
[6] Jafari, Mojtaba, Atlas-e Nabardhaye Mandegar (The Atlas of Enduring Battles), p. 108.
[7] Ardestani, Hussain, Rozshomar-e Jang Iran va Araq, Book 52: Takapoye Jahani Baray-e Tavaqouf Jang (Chronology of the Iran-Iraq War, Book 52: Global Effort to End the War), Tehran: Markaz-e Motaleat va Tahqiqat Sepah Pasdaran Enqelab-e Eslami, 1382, p. 599.
