Kermanshah (Bakhtaran) is one of Iran’ s western border provinces that was directly exposed to enemy attack during the Sacred Defense and became the focal point of confrontation with the enemy on the western front.

Kermanshah Province, or Kermanshahan, has a population of 1,952,434⁠[1] and an area of 24,640 square kilometers, making it Iran’ s seventeenth-largest province by area. It is bordered by Kurdistan Province to the north, Lorestan and Ilam provinces to the south, Hamadan Province to the east, and Iraq to the west. Kermanshah Province consists of 14 counties, 31 cities, 31 districts, and 84 rural districts, with the city of Kermanshah as its center.⁠[2] Muslims make up about 99.7 percent of the province’ s population, most of them Shia, with a percentage of Sunnis and a group following the religious sect known as Ahl-e Haqq. The province’ s most significant religious minorities are Zoroastrians at 0.12 percent, Christians at 0.2 percent, and Jews at 0.3 percent.⁠[3]

Three years after the Islamic Revolution, in Azar 1360 (November/December 1981), Kermanshah’ s name was changed to Bakhtaran.⁠[4] After the end of the Imposed War, in Farvardin 1372 (March/April 1993), Bakhtaran reverted to its former name, Kermanshah.⁠[5]

Kermanshah Province holds great military significance due to its 263-kilometer shared border with Iraq. The decreasing slope of the land from east to west, and the extension of its highlands to the Mesopotamian plain, provide Iranian forces with numerous defensive axes running from west to east. The Patagh, Hassanabad, and Chahar Zebar passes are among these axes.⁠[6]

After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Iraq began taking actions against Iran, the nature and intensity of which varied across different parts of Kermanshah Province. By recruiting counter-revolutionary and separatist Iranian leaders, Iraq engaged in supporting, training, arming, and directing them. Iraq supported Kurdish counter-revolutionaries in Paveh, Javanrud, and Nowsud, and backed royalist activities in Dasht-e Zahab, Kerend, and Qasr-e Shirin.⁠[7] At the same time, Iraq dedicated its training garrisons in border cities to training counter-revolutionaries.⁠[8]

Iraq’ s border violations also began immediately after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, starting in 1358 (1979/1980) and increasing in 1359 (1980/1981), to the point that in Shahrivar 1359 (August/September 1980), scarcely a day passed without Qasr-e Shirin, Naft-Shahr, and Sumar coming under Iraqi army artillery fire. Iraq’ s aim was to inflict damage on outposts and military forces, instill fear and terror among the people, and force them to evacuate the border regions.⁠[9]

The Iraqi army also attacked the border area of Khan Leyli on 15 Shahrivar 1359 (6 September 1980) and occupied an area of 100 square kilometers of Iranian territory.⁠[10]

Kermanshah Province, located adjacent to Iraq’ s Diyala Province, held special military significance in the Iraqi army’ s plan to attack Iran. The situation of Diyala Province differed completely from that of Kermanshah; Kermanshah is a mountainous region, while Diyala is a plain. Also, beyond Diyala, Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, lies less than 180 kilometers from the border line, whereas Iran’ s capital is very far from Kermanshah.

With the start of the Imposed War, the Iraqi army’ s Second Corps was assigned the mission of advancing to the Patagh pass, 50 kilometers into Iranian territory, so as to keep Iranian forces away from this area.⁠[11] Despite deploying the largest number of forces in Kermanshah Province, the Iraqi army failed to achieve its most important objective — seizing the Patagh region and its heights. It also failed to capture the cities of Gilan-e Gharb and Sarpol-e Zahab, and was only able to occupy border-adjacent cities such as Qasr-e Shirin, Naft-Shahr, and Sumar;⁠[12] Naft-Shahr remained under Iraqi occupation until the end of the war and was liberated in 1369 (1990/1991) following the withdrawal of the Iraqi army.⁠[13]

During the Sacred Defense, Kermanshah Province and northern Ilam Province were situated between the northern and southern fronts, and were therefore called the central front.⁠[14]

During the eight years of the Imposed War, 27 operations were carried out on the fronts of Kermanshah Province, including Tang-e Hajian in 1359 (1980/1981), Bazi-Deraz in 1360 (1981/1982), Matla al-Fajr in 1360, Muslim ibn Aqil in 1361 (1982/1983), and Mersad in 1367 (1988).⁠[15]

During the Sacred Defense, the people of Kermanshah Province formed 12 units drawing on the capacities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij.⁠[16] These units included the 29th Nabi Akram (PBUH) Division, the 4th Be’ sat Division, and the 202nd Shahid Ashrafi Esfahani, 59th Muslim ibn Aqil, 320th Qa’ em (AS), and 166th Sajedin brigades.⁠[17]

The Najaf Ashraf Headquarters, which commanded IRGC forces in western Iran, was also based in Kermanshah.⁠[18]

The Kermanshah 81st Armored Division was the main army ground-force unit in western Iran present during the Sacred Defense; 3,742 personnel of this division were martyred in the Imposed War.⁠[19]

The Army Aviation base stationed in Kermanshah also took part in 50 offensive and defensive operations of the Sacred Defense; 83 pilots, soldiers, and technical personnel of the Kermanshah Army Aviation base, including Ali-Akbar Shirudi and Ahmad Keshvari, were martyred.⁠[20]

With the start of the Imposed War, the tribes of Kermanshah also confronted the enemy. In Mehr 1359 (September/October 1980), the Joint Combat Group for Irregular Warfare, known by its Persian acronym “ Gomjan, ” organized and trained members of the Sanjabi, Guran, Kalhor, Osmanvand, Valadbeigi, Jalalvand, Zardalan, and Sarfirouzabad tribes under army supervision. These forces were then tasked with securing the area between the Kermanshah– Eslamabad-e Gharb– Qalajeh– Sarcheleh axis, the Nasler-Balalar heights and their extension to Tangab, as well as the Kermanshah– Qazanchi– Kuzaran– Bayangan– Mirabad– Bazmirabad– Dasht-e Zahab axis. During the Sacred Defense, 13,000 tribespeople from western Iran, including the tribes of this province, served in operational areas for periods ranging from one to 80 months, with 1,200 of them killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.⁠[21] Followers of the Ahl-e Haqq faith in Kermanshah Province also took part in the Sacred Defense as members of the Kerend-e Gharb IRGC forces and the Horr Battalion of the IRGC’ s 127th Meqdad Brigade, with 750 of them martyred.⁠[22]

Ayatollah Ataollah Ashrafi Esfahani (martyred), the Friday prayer leader of Kermanshah, played an effective role in mobilizing the people and armed forces to go to the front and support the war fronts from the start of the Imposed War. He constantly visited the fronts and met with combatants.⁠[23]

Throughout the eight years of the Imposed War, Kermanshah Province was struck by enemy missiles 1,100 times.⁠[24] In Esfand 1366 (February/March 1988) alone, the city of Kermanshah was targeted by Iraqi aircraft and missiles 100 times. In one instance, during the bombing of Shirin Park in Kermanshah city on 26 Esfand 1366 (16 March 1988), 300 people, including women and children, were wounded or martyred.⁠[25] The town of Nowdesheh and the villages of Zardeh and Direh in Dalahu County were also subjected to enemy chemical bombing during the Imposed War.⁠[26] On 31 Tir 1367 (22 July 1988), in the chemical bombing of the village of Zardeh, 270 people were martyred on that same day and 830 were wounded, some of whom later died in subsequent years from the effects of the attack.⁠[27]

The Kermanshah Oil Refinery, whose crude oil was supplied from the Naft-Shahr region, was bombed once in 1359 (1980/1981), four times in 1365 (1986/1987), and twice in 1366 (1987/1988), but it was never shut down; the enemy’ s occupation of Naft-Shahr led to the refinery’ s oil being supplied instead from heavy crude oil from the south.⁠[28]

During the Imposed War, the Vakil al-Dowleh Mosque, known as the Torks Mosque, in Kermanshah city was a gathering place for combatants and a site for providing services to them; the mosque’ s doors were always open to combatants.⁠[29]

During the Sacred Defense, 16,000 combatants from various provinces of the country were martyred on the western fronts in Kermanshah Province. With 9,800 martyrs, Kermanshah Province ranks ninth among Iran’ s provinces in terms of the number of martyrs.⁠[30] Of these martyrs, 1,297 were Sunni Muslims.⁠[31] Kermanshah Province also has 500 former prisoners of war.⁠[32] With 22,845 war veterans, Kermanshah ranks eighth among the country’ s provinces in terms of the number of veterans. Kermanshah Province also ranks second among the country’ s provinces in the number of female martyrs and veterans, with 1,014 women martyred and 1,817 women veterans.⁠[33] Farangis Heydarpour, one of the women of Gilan-e Gharb, killed an invading Iraqi soldier with her axe and took another prisoner.⁠[34]

Gilan-e Gharb, in Kermanshah Province, has been designated as the country’ s second “ resistant city” due to its people’ s resistance against the enemy, and 4‌^th of Mehr has been named “ Gilan-e Gharb People’ s Resistance Day” on the country’ s official calendar.⁠[35]

Today, eight memorials in Kermanshah Province — the Mersad Memorial, the Bazi-Deraz Martyrs Memorial, the Abuzar Garrison, the Shahid Shirudi Memorial, the Shahid Beheshti Qasr-e Shirin Memorial, the Matla al-Fajr Gilan-e Gharb Memorial, the Paveh Martyrs Memorial, and the Sheikh Saleh Martyrs Memorial — are destinations for Rahian-e Nur caravans.⁠[36]