Battles
Operation Pasgah-e Shuhada
Nasrin Khaledi
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The Army Aviation Forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the Kurdish Peshmerga executed Operation Pasgah-e Shuhada on 3-4 April 1981 in the Tatteh and Jalaneh Heights in Kurdistan.
On April 3, the IRGC—in coordination with the Joint Combat Organization—launched Operation Pasgah-e Shuhada under the command of Ahmad Motavaselian in the Tatteh and Jalaneh Heights along the Iran–Iraq border, northwest of Nudsheh, and southwest of Darki and Dezli in Kurdistan.[1]
The Jalaneh Outpost, one of the operation’s targets located in this operational area, is situated in western Iran, in the Tatteh and Jalaneh Heights of Kurdistan along the Iran–Iraq border. This outpost was located in the foothills of “Shamshir” Heights covering the Paveh region.[2]
Muhammad Motavaselian, the operation commander, and his forces sought to help the fighters who were besieged by Iraqi forces and anti-revolutionaries in the Tatteh Heights.[3] The Tatteh Hill is the most difficult pass on the route from Paveh and Oramanat to Marivan.
Units from the Army Aviation Forces, the Marivan IRGC, and the Muslim Kurdish Peshmerga took part in the operation. In the early hours, the IRGC forces liberated the Tatteh Height—which was entirely covered in snow—but due to unfavorable weather conditions, helicopters were unable to provide them with the necessary supplies. Lacking food, tents, and sleeping bags, the forces withstood enemy attacks and managed to liberate both the heights and the Jalaneh Outpost on April 4, 1981. Although enemy forces occupied the peak and had the upper hand on the battlefield, Iranian forces succeeded in recapturing the Jalaneh Outpost, which was thereafter renamed “Shuhada Outpost (Pasgah-e Shuhada)” in honor of those who sacrificed their lives during this operation.[4] This operation paved the way for capturing other heights and effectively immobilized Iraq in that area.[5]
As a result of enemy artillery and mortar fire, eleven Iranian forces fell into a ravine leaving five martyred and sixty wounded.[6]
[1] Markaz Asnad va Tahqiqat Defa Muqaddas (Center for Documents and Studies of the Sacred Defense), Nabard-e Pasaqah-e Shuhada (Battle of Martyrs’ Outpost).
[2] Rezaei Kheirabadi, Hassan, Setad-e Dezli: Gozareshi az Mahvarha, Faaliyatha, Havadess va Khaterat hamrah ba Yadname-ye Shohadan (Dezli Headquarters: A Report on the Axes, Activities, Incidents, and Memories Accompanied by the Martyrs’ Memorandum), Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari: Asaf, 1389, p. 253.
[3] Mahooti, Mehri, Morvarid-e Gomshodeh: Khaterati az Sardar Sar Lashkar Pasdar Javid al-Athar Haj Ahmad Motavaselian (The Lost Pearl: Memories of the Commander of the IRGC, Haj Ahmad Motavaselian), Tehran: Congress for the Commemoration of the Martyr Commanders of the IRGC and 36,000 Martyrs of Tehran Province, Publishing Committee, 1376, p. 72.
[4] Markaz Asnad va Tahqiqat Defa Muqaddas (Center for Documents and Studies of the Sacred Defense), Nabard-e Pasaqah-e Shuhada (Battle of Martyrs’ Outpost).
[5] Mahooti, Mehri, Morvarid-e Gomshodeh (The Lost Pearl), p. 73.
[6] Ibid, p. 72.
