Iraqis Driven From Iranian Border Town

In their second major defeat of the Persian Gulf War this year, Iraqi forces Wednesday were driven out of an Iranian border town that they captured six weeks ago.

The Iraqi government said in a communique broadcast by Baghdad radio that its forces have withdrawn from Iran after losing the town of Mehran, 170 miles east-southeast of Baghdad.

The defeat followed a two-day battle in the desert during which Iran claims to have killed 1,250 Iraqi soldiers and destroyed the headquarters of two Iraqi brigades, killing one commander.

“The Iranian enemy managed to enter the Iranian town of Mehran,” Baghdad radio said, “and our forces withdrew to international borders.”

2nd Military Setback

The defeat at Mehran is Iraq’s second significant military setback this year. In February, Iranian forces stormed across the Shatt al Arab waterway, the international border, and seized the Iraqi town of Al Faw, a former oil terminal at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Significantly, when Iraqi forces seized Mehran on May 17, it was described as being part of a new “active, mobile defense” in which Iraqi forces would take the offensive in Iranian territory for the first time since 1982.

The war began in September, 1980, when Iraqi forces invaded Iran.

It was widely believed that Iraq’s leaders had hoped to enter negotiations with Iran to arrange at least a limited truce based on exchanging Mehran for Al Faw. But the poorly trained and armed Iranians continue to confound Western military assessments of the conflict by handily defeating the Iraqis, although at vast cost in casualties.

Control of the Skies

The Iraqis have virtual control of the skies and significant superiority in sophisticated weapons on the ground, such as tanks and armored personnel carriers. But they appear to have been hampered once again by their refusal to suffer large casualties, which most military analysts believe to be the reason that they have not succeeded in dislodging the Iranians from the Faw Peninsula.

As if to emphasize the point, a commentator on Tehran radio, quoted by the Reuters news service, said in a broadcast Wednesday: “Where are the spy satellites of the superpowers now, to see their gifts of sophisticated equipment to the Iraqi regime on fire?”

In addition to losing a potential bargaining chip, the Iraqis will undoubtedly suffer a serious decline in morale as a result of the loss of the town. Mehran itself had little strategic value, having lost its civilian population early in the war and being backed by mountains that hinder further penetration into Iran.

Long-Awaited Offensive

Of greater concern to the Iraqis, the Iranians are still hinting that they are preparing to launch a long-expected offensive through the Hawizah marshes in an effort to cut off Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city.

The Iranians have drafted more than 1 million men and moved heavy artillery into the marshes in what appear to be preparations for an attack. But the invasion has been threatened for several months.

The loss of Mehran will invariably lead to concern among Arab states that border the Persian Gulf, which were alarmed at Iran’s successes in the Faw Peninsula earlier this year.

A major fire at an oil-processing station in Kuwait last month was described as sabotage, and officials hinted strongly that the attack was instigated by Iran.