Dehloran is part of Ilam Province and shares the longest border with Iraq of any city in the province. The city was occupied by the Iraqi army several times during the Iran-Iraq War.

Dehloran is the capital of Dehloran County in Ilam Province, covering an area of roughly ten square kilometers in the southern part of the province along the Ilam– Dezful route. Since ancient times, the people of this county were of Lur descent, which is how the land came to be known as “ Deh Lor” — gradually evolving into “ Deh Loran” and eventually Dehloran. The Dehloran region is mountainous, with its heights forming part of the Zagros Mountain range, though this part of the Zagros is not particularly high — the tallest peak being Kabir Kooh. Between these mountains, especially from the central areas down to the south of Dehloran, there are fertile plains irrigated by the Doveyrij and Meimeh rivers. Oil fields are the region’ s most important underground resource, concentrated mainly in the southern areas. Also notable are the hot springs on the southern slopes of Dinar Kooh, and the hot water and bitumen springs originating from Siah Kooh and flowing about nine kilometers west of Dehloran.⁠[1]

In the early days of the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq occupied the Ilam Province border strip to a depth of several kilometers inside Iranian territory, and by cutting the vital Ilam– Mehran– Dehloran Road, displaced a large number of the county’ s residents.⁠[2]

In the Dehloran area, the Dehloran– Moosian– Fakkeh axis — which effectively complemented the northern Khuzestan axis and was considered the key to capturing Shush and Dezful — drew particular enemy attention. Due to the breadth and complexity of the terrain and the importance of the objectives, the enemy assigned its best units under its Third Corps to attack this axis. Therefore, ground operations by the Iraqi army’ s forward forces on the Ein-Khosh axis began on the afternoon of September 22, 1980, and the following day, the 17th Brigade of Iraq’ s 10th Armored Division continued the attack, with the 24th and 43rd brigades of the same division subsequently deployed. On the Fakkeh axis, Iraq’ s 1st Mechanized Division also engaged.

On the first day of the war, the border posts of Raboot, Cham-Sari, Nahr-e Anbar, Doveyrij, and Fakkeh fell. The following morning, the attacking forces first seized the Samideh and Pich-Angizeh posts, then crossed the important Doveyrij River. In the Fakkeh area, the 37th Armored Brigade of the Army resisted for several days, but with their rear under severe threat, they were eventually forced to withdraw, and the Iraqi troops pushed forward. Southern Ilam thus fell under occupation in the opening days of the war. In a separate assault aimed at securing its left flank, the Baathist army also seized Moosian and advanced toward Dehloran despite the resistance of the Iranian forces. However, after destroying the city’ s infrastructure and key facilities for propaganda purposes, it retreated to the Moosian– Dehloran– Andimeshk junction near the Doveyrij Bridge.⁠[3]

On September 26, 1980 — the fifth day of the war — Dehloran was under heavy enemy fire, and the city’ s road links had been cut by Iraqi forces. That same day, an official from the Ilam General-Governorate said, “ Around fifty enemy tanks are advancing toward Dehloran. Two of our own battalions are encircled by the Iraqis. Everything up to the Reza-Abad post in the Mehran area is in Iraqi hands. We are facing a serious equipment shortage — from Mehran to Saleh-Abad, for example, we have only three artillery pieces”.⁠[4]

Finally, on October 10, 1980, Iraqi troops entered Dehloran — but were forced to withdraw and abandon the city under Iranian resistance. The Iraqis then tightened their encirclement and cut off supply routes, severing communication between forces inside the city and those outside. Three days later, Iraqi infantry entered Dehloran at a time when only thirty Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members and a small number of local volunteers had remained in the city. In the early hours of October 17, 1980, Dehloran fell completely under Baathist control. After destroying parts of the city, including the airport runway, water and electricity infrastructure, and government buildings, and struggling with resupply problems and damage from Iranian fighters, the Iraqis had no choice but to leave the city.⁠[5]

Iraq’ s attacks on Dehloran and subsequent withdrawals were repeated several times throughout the Iran-Iraq War. The enemy never accepted the added risk of maintaining a permanent presence in the city. Each time the Iraqi troops seized it and inflicted damage, they withdrew. With the Mehran– Dehloran and Dezful– Dehloran roads blocked, the Dehloran front was also difficult for Iranian forces to defend, as it could only be weakly supplied through the long rear supply lines running through Abdanan. Given this situation and the front’ s relatively lower military priority compared to Fakkeh, Dasht-e Abbas, and Mehran, Iran did not deploy significant forces or equipment to that region.⁠[6]