Sharhani operational area is located in the Moosian district of Dehloran County, within the village of Ein-Khosh. It sits about 65 kilometers southeast of Dehloran and 100 kilometers west of Andimeshk, on the Hamrin Heights. As it marks the northern edge of the Fakkeh region, it is also called “ Shakh-e Fakkeh (Fakkeh Horn) ”. Operations Muharram and Valfajr 1 were carried out in this region, among the sandy dunes and both natural and man-made canals.

Most of the border areas were named and became well‑known during the Iran-Iraq War. The greater part of Sharhani lies inside Iraq. Because Iranian forces maintained a defensive line inside that part of Iraqi territory for a long time, the entire region came to be known as Sharhani. Sharhani is about 20 kilometers from the Dehloran– Andimeshk Road and Ein-Khosh Garrison, connected via Shahid Kharrazi Road and Shahid Ayoobi Bridge. The existence of heights 178 and 175, which offer a wide view of the Dehloran plain and Ein-Khosh to the east, and all of Iraq’ s Maysan Governorate to the west, adds to the area’ s military importance.⁠[1]

Iraq invaded Iran on September 22, 1980, and on that very first day, it engaged all the border posts in the area. To attack northern Khuzestan, Iraq had planned two lines of attack: one starting from Fakkeh and the other from Sharhani, north of Fakkeh. The first route went through Barqazeh, Chananeh, and the Abu Salibi Khat Hills. The second passed through Cham-Sari, Ein-Khosh, and Imamzadeh Abbas (as). If those two linked up past the Naderi Bridge, Ahvaz would be seriously threatened.

On the afternoon of September 22, Iraqi aircraft bombed key military centers in Dezful, including the Tactical Fighter Base of Dezful and Karkheh Garrison, where the 2nd Brigade of the Ahvaz Armored Division was stationed. Then, Iraq’ s 1st Mechanized Division and the 10th Armored Division entered Iranian territory via the Fakkeh and Sharhani axes respectively.⁠[2]

Gendarmerie border guards, some units of the 92nd Armored Division, a group of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, and popular forces from Dezful stood up to the Iraqis on both axes. On the first day, forces from the 37th Shiraz Armored Battle Group resisted and prevented the Iraqi troops from occupying the Fakkeh post— unlike many other posts that fell. On that same first day, the Iraqi army seized the Sharhani post and by nightfall had reached the slopes of the Hamrin Heights.

On the second day, the Iraqis went around the Fakkeh post from the south and advanced toward Chananeh. On the Sharhani axis, the Iraqi army pushed back the outnumbered defenders and occupied the posts at Rabut, Cham-Sari, and Nahr-e Anbar, west of the Doveyrij River.

The Iraqi advance along the Sharhani axis was faster. By the fourth day of the war, they had passed Ein-Khosh and reached Naderi Bridge. In the meantime, the 141st Battle Group from the 21st Hamzeh Division— deployed to the area— had to disembark at Dookoheh because the Andimeshk– Ahvaz railway was cut. They went to the nearest front, west of Karkheh, to help the defenders at Barqazeh. The Iranian forces at Fakkeh were still holding out in Barqazeh when, on September 26, the Iraqis cut off the bridge route and surrounded them. Therefore, they retreated through Karkheh, where some of them drowned. By dusk on September 28, the Iraqi troops had secured their positions west of Karkheh, and both Sharhani and Fakkeh became the rear area of the enemy front.⁠[3]

The first time Iranian forces reached Sharhani after the start of the war was during Operation Muharram (November 1982). Muharram was the largest operation after Operation Ramazan. At that time, Iranian forces were looking to break the enemy’ s psychological stronghold by winning on the battlefronts.⁠[4]

After Operation Muharram, a defensive line was created in the Sharhani area, where no operations were carried out until Operation Valfajr 1. Operation Valfajr 1 began on April 10, 1983, three months after the unsuccessful Operation Valfajr-e Muqaddamati. Despite the enemy’ s dense obstacles and the large presence of Iraqi troops in the area, Iranian forces managed to push them back.⁠[5]

After Operation Valfajr 8, Iraq adopted a mobile defense strategy to make up for some of its defeats in Al-Faw and to boost its forces’ morale. Accordingly, it launched a series of operations to retake sensitive areas, including Sharhani. In their first attack on Sharhani and the Pich-e Angizeh regions on April 7, 1986, the Iraqis captured an important height known as Hill 175. The next day, they attacked the Pich-e Angizeh but were forced to withdraw after a brief engagement. The Sharhani defensive line was being held by the Iranian Army. Iraq was determined to seize these heights and the Sharhani oil pumping station, but the resistance of Iranian forces prevented them from achieving that goal.

At 5 AM on April 30, 1986, Iraq again launched a heavy preparatory barrage and also attacked Fakkeh. After a few hours, the Iraqi troops moved from their own berms and, by around 8 AM, reached the Iranian positions on three axes. Iranians’ lines were broken on all three axes. The Iraqis entered the berms and continued advancing until 11 AM, pushing more than seven kilometers in three hours. In this attack, a group of Iranian forces was captured, and Baghdad TV showed them on air. Several tanks and armored personnel carriers were also taken by the enemy. Units from the 10th Seyyed al-Shuhada (as) Division and the 27th Muhammad Rasulullah (pbuh) Division were immediately dispatched to Sharhani, where they engaged the Iraqi army and eventually managed to stop the enemy.⁠[6]

After the Iran-Iraq War ended, search-and-recovery groups from the 14th Imam Hussain (as) Division, the 27th Muhammad Rasulullah Division (pbuh), the 31st Ashura Division, the 19th Fajr Division, and the Missing Persons Search Committee were sent to this region to collect the remains of fallen martyrs. A Martyrs’ memorial and several trenches preserving the atmosphere of the Sacred Defense period have been built in Sharhani.⁠[7]

Sharhani is now a national heritage site and part of Iran’ s intangible cultural heritage. Research has been done on this place, and on September 30, 2008, it was registered with the number 23472 on Iran’ s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.⁠[8]