Khin Canal lies near the village of Khin, west of Khorramshahr. This place witnessed significant military confrontations both before and at the outset of the Baathist invasion of Iran, as well as during Operation Beit al-Muqaddas (1982), Operation Valfajr 8 (1986), and operations Karbala 4 and 5 (1986-1987).

Khin is a canal west of Khorramshahr and south of the Arayez waterway, separating Iraq’ s Buwarin Island from Iran’ s Shalamcheh. The canal runs alongside the Khin border post, reaches a depth of two and a half meters, varies in width between eight and thirty meters, and flows into the Shatt al-Arab at Tanumeh in Iraq. Before the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqi army regularly unloaded weapons along the canal’ s banks to arm its operatives in Khorramshahr.⁠[1]

On September 17, 1980, Iraq’ s president addressed the country’ s parliament, announcing the unilateral cancellation of the 1975 Algiers Agreement. While declaring that the pre-March 1975 legal status of the Shatt al-Arab (Arvand Rud) must be restored, he said: “ All rights seized must be returned to Iraqi sovereignty”. Following these remarks, Iraqi incursions along the Khorramshahr border strip intensified, Iraqi vessels stepped up their movements, and Iraq’ s 5th Division and Special Forces brigades moved to the border strip and took up pre-prepared positions.

On September 19, 1980, the clashes broke out when Iraqi forces opened fire on the Khin border post. Between September 17 and 21, the most significant Iraqi actions in the Khin Canal area included repeated shelling of Iranian forces stationed at the Momeini and Khin posts, the deployment of a mortar unit opposite the Khin area, the dispatch of two gunboats to the area, and the firing of those gunboats on an Iranian vessel off the Khin post.⁠[2]

When the war began on September 22, 1980, the 20th Brigade of Iraq’ s 5th Mechanized Infantry Division took up an offensive formation alongside the Khin Canal. However, the Khin post had already been under enemy fire for several days, with Gendarmerie forces holding out with the help of local volunteers. On the third day of the war, the post was evacuated, and its defenders repositioned in the Pol-e Nou area.

During the liberation of Khorramshahr in Operation Beit al-Muqaddas, Khin was one of the axes assigned to the Nasr Headquarters led by Hemmat (martyred) for the encirclement of Khorramshahr.⁠[3] In the final phase of the operation, the Nasr 2 units and the Salman axis commander were tasked with seizing the Khin Canal and the area between Khin and the Arvand River.⁠[4]

In Operation Valfajr 8, the Khatam al-Anbiya (pbuh) Headquarters also played a role in providing support and resources in the Khin Canal area. During Operation Karbala 4, the region witnessed the heaviest fighting in its history, and many Iranian fighters were martyred. Khin Canal — fortified with crossed-angle irons, razor wire, various minefields, and radial obstacles — posed a formidable barrier for Iranian forces in operations Karbala 4 and Karbala 5. Crossing the swampy, muddy terrain and penetrating the southern fortification of the canal — two and a half meters high and six meters wide, with a complex concrete channel running through its center, flanked by guard posts and protected by 106 mm recoilless rifles, RPG-11s, and four-barrel anti-aircraft guns — was virtually impossible. Nevertheless, the Iranian forces fought with remarkable courage in Operation Karbala 4 and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, with some even managing to cross the canal. Ultimately, however, after the operation was compromised and under the intense enemy fire, commanders ordered a halt. Drawing on the intelligence and experience gained in that operation, the area was liberated during Operation Karbala 5.⁠[5]