A report on Baghdad, Iraq and Iran–Iraq War

Top-left to bottom-right: Iranian child soldier on the frontlines

Iranian soldier in a trench wearing a gas mask to guard against Iraqi chemical attacks

Port quarter view of the USS Stark listing to port after being mistakenly struck by an Iraqi warplane

Pro-Iraq MEK forces killed during Iran's Operation Mersad

Iraqi prisoners of war after the recapture of Khorramshahr by Iranian forces

ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun being used by the Iranian Army

Meeting of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Houari Boumédiène and Saddam Hussein (left to right) during the Algiers Agreement in 1975.

An 1808 picture of Baghdad from the print collection in Travels in Asia and Africa, etc. (ed. J. P. Berjew, British Library)

Ruhollah Khomeini rose to power after the Iranian Revolution.

An 1468 painting of Floods in Baghdad by Shirwan

Inside the Shanidar Cave, where the remains of eight adults and two infant Neanderthals, dating from around 65,000–35,000 years ago were found.

Location of Khuzestan Province in Iran which Iraq planned to annex

The Round city of Baghdad between 767 and 912 AD

Map of the Akkadian Empire and the directions in which military campaigns were conducted (yellow arrows). The Akkadian Empire was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia after the long-lived civilization of Sumer

Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr, who was also commander-in-chief, on a Jeep-mounted 106mm recoilless anti-tank gun. Banisadr was impeached in June 1981.

Baghdad Museum is a local history museum. It features 70 scenes from different periods using lifesize models presenting Baghdad life

Bronze head of an Akkadian ruler from Nineveh, presumably depicting either Sargon of Akkad, or Sargon's grandson Naram-Sin

The Shatt al-Arab on the Iran–Iraq border

Courtyard of Mustansiriya madrasa, established by Al-Mustansir in 1227

Hammurabi, depicted as receiving his royal insignia from Shamash. Relief on the upper part of the stele of Hammurabi's code of laws.

Khan Murjan, built in the 14th century as a caravanserai

Map of the Neo-Assyrian Empire under Shalmaneser III (dark green) and Esarhaddon (light green)

Iranian F-14A Tomcats equipped with AIM-54A, AIM-7 and AIM-9 missiles.

Al Khulafa mosque retains an Abbasid-era minaret

Jehu, king of Israel, bows before Shalmaneser III of Assyria, 825 BC.

Resistance of the outnumbered and outgunned Iranians in Khorramshahr slowed the Iraqis for a month.

Zumurrud Khatun Tomb in Baghdad (built in 1202 AD)

Lamassu from the Assyrian gallery at the Iraq Museum, Baghdad

Iranian president Abulhassan Banisadr on the battlefront

Conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 CE

The Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabonidus (r. 626–539 BC)

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Massoud Rajavi, the leader of MEK and the National Resistance Council of Iran (NCRI) in 1988.

Central Asian Turko-Mongol conqueror Timur sacked the city and spared almost no one

The surprise attack on H-3 airbase is considered to be one of the most sophisticated air operations of the war.

Iranian soldier holding an IV bag during the Iran–Iraq War

Al-Hariri of Basra was a poet, high government official and scholar of the Arabic language, He is known for his Maqamat al-Hariri (‘'Assemblies of Hariri'’), a collection of some 50 stories written in the Maqama style. Al-Hariri's best known work, Maqamat has been regarded as the greatest treasure in Arabic literature.

Iranian Northrop F-5 aircraft during Iran-Iraq war

Three Iraqi Levies, who volunteered in 1946 for service as ground crew with the Royal Air Force, look over the side of the ORBITA as it pulls into the docks at Liverpool. Left to right, they are: Sergeant Macko Shmos, Lance Corporal Adoniyo Odisho and Corporal Yoseph Odisho.

Iraqi T-62 tank wreckage in Khuzestan Province, Iran

Freedom Monument, Tahrir square in Downtown Baghdad

Conquest of Mosul (Nineveh) by Mustafa Pasha in 1631, a Turkish soldier in the foreground holding a severed head. L., C. (Stecher) 1631 -1650

Iraqi soldiers surrendering after the Liberation of Khorramshahr

Crowning of King Faisal II of Iraq in the Council of Representatives, 1953

Baghdad as seen from the International Space Station

Nuri Said (1888 - 1958), contributed to the establishment of the Kingdom of Iraq and the armed forces while also served as the Prime minister of the state.

An admonitory declaration issued from the Iraqi government in order to warn Iranian troops in the Iran–Iraq War. The statement says: "Hey Iranians! No one has been downtrodden in the country where Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib, Husayn ibn Ali and Abbas ibn Ali are buried. Iraq has undoubtedly been an honorable country. All refugees are precious. Anyone who wants to live in exile can choose Iraq freely. We, the Sons of Iraq, have been ambushing foreign aggressors. The enemies who plan to assault Iraq will be disfavoured by God in this world and the hereafter. Be careful of attacking Iraq and Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib! If you surrender, you might be in peace."

Al-Ma'mun's Telecommunication Center in downtown Baghdad

Iraq state emblem under nationalist Qasim was mostly based on Mesopotamian symbol of Shamash, and avoided pan-Arab symbolism by incorporating elements of Socialist heraldry.

95,000 Iranian child soldiers were made casualties during the Iran–Iraq War, mostly between the ages of 16 and 17, with a few younger.

The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra performing in July 2007

The April 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue by US Army troops in Firdos Square in Baghdad shortly after the US-led invasion.

Destroyed Lion of Babylon tank on Highway 9 outside Najaf during US-led invasion in 2003.

Chaldean Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows

An Iraqi Army Aviation Command aerial gunner prepares to test fire his M240 machine gun, Near Baghdad International Airport, 2011

Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, provides command and control of air power throughout Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi POW who was shot by Iranian troops after they conquered the Iraqi Majnoon oil field in October 1984

Pro-independence rally in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2017. The Kurdistan Regional Government announced it would respect the Supreme Federal Court's ruling that no Iraqi province is allowed to secede.

Iranian troops fire 152 mm D-20 howitzer

Protest in Baghdad in November 2019. The protests were the largest incident of civil unrest Iraq has experienced since the 2003 invasion.

Battle of the Marshes Iran front 1983 rest after exchange of fire 152 mm D-20 H

Operation Earnest Will: Tanker convoy No. 12 under US Navy escort (21 October 1987)

A map indicating the attacks on civilian areas of Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait targeted during the "War of the Cities".

The Asiatic lion has remained a prominent symbol of the country throughout history.

Iraqi commanders discussing strategy on the battlefront (1986)

Baghdad Convention Center, the current meeting place of the Council of Representatives of Iraq.

Iranian President Ali Khamenei on the battlefront during the Iran–Iraq War

View over Green Zone, which contains governmental headquarters and the army, in addition to containing the headquarters of the American embassy and the headquarters of foreign organizations and agencies for other countries.

Operation Dawn 8 during which Iran captured the Faw Peninsula.

US President Donald Trump with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in 2017.

Iranian soldier killed during the Iran–Iraq War with Rouhollah Khomeini's photo on his uniform

The People's Mujahedin of Iran, supported by Saddam, started a ten-day operation after both the Iranian and Iraqi governments accepted UN Resolution 598. Casualty estimates range from 2,000 to 10,000.

Adnan Khairallah, Iraqi Defense Minister, meeting with Iraqi soldiers during the war

Agriculture is the main occupation of the people.

IRGC navy speedboats using swarm tactics

Mosul Museum is the second largest museum in Iraq after the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. It contains ancient Mesopotamian artifacts.

An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask during the Iran–Iraq War.

The Iranian frigate IS Sahand burns after being hit by 20 U.S. air launched missiles and bombs, killing a third of the crew, April 1988

Iranian soldiers captured during Iraq's 1988 offensives

USS Vincennes in 1987 a year before it shot down Iran Air Flight 655

MEK Soldiers killed in Operation Mersad in 1988

Al-Shaheed Monument in Baghdad was erected to commemorate the fallen Iraqi soldiers during the war.

Mor Mattai Monastery (Dayro d-Mor Mattai) in, Bartella, Nineveh, Iraq. It is recognized as one of the oldest Christian monasteries in existence and is famous for its magnificent library and considerable collection of Syriac Christian manuscripts

Saddam Hussein Promoting women's literacy and education in the 1970s

An Iranian soldier's funeral in Mashhad, 2013

Al-Mutanabi, regarded as one of the greatest, most prominent and influential poets in the Arabic language, much of his work has been translated into over 20 languages worldwide

An Iraqi Mil Mi-24 on display at the military museum of Sa'dabad Palace in Iran

Wasiti's illustrations served as an inspiration for the modern Baghdad art movement in the 20th-century.

President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush work in the Oval Office of the White House, 20 July 1984.

Zaha Hadid (1950–2016), an acclaimed architect.

USS Stark (FFG-31) listing following two hits by Exocet missiles.

Facade of Temple at Hatra, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.

Victims of the 1987 chemical attack on Sardasht, West Azerbaijan, Iran

The Queen's gold lyre from the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Iraq Museum, Baghdad.

Damage to a mosque in Khoramshahr, Iran, the city that was invaded by Iraq in September 1980

Madina Stadium in Baghdad is Iraq's first-ever stadium solar power plant, and the second in the Middle East of its kind.

Sunni Arabs
Shiite Arabs
Sunni Kurds
Assyrians
Yazidis
Turkmen

Baghdad (بَغْدَاد ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo.

- Baghdad

The capital and largest city is Baghdad.

- Iraq

In 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, sparking a protracted war which would last for almost eight years, and end in a stalemate with devastating losses for both countries.

- Iraq

Iran's new Islamic administration was regarded in Baghdad as an irrational, existential threat to the Ba'ath government, especially because the Ba'ath party, having a secular nature, discriminated against and posed a threat to the fundamentalist Shia movement in Iraq, whose clerics were Iran's allies within Iraq and whom Khomeini saw as oppressed.

- Iran–Iraq War

However, the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s was a difficult time for the city, as money was diverted by Saddam Hussein to the army and thousands of residents were killed.

- Baghdad

The Siege of Basra, code-named Operation Karbala-5, was an offensive operation carried out by Iran in an effort to capture the Iraqi port city of Basra in early 1987.

- Iran–Iraq War

3 related topics with Alpha

Kurds

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Kurdish-inhabited areas in the Middle East (1992)

Yazidi new year celebrations in Lalish, 18 April 2017

Faravahar (or Ferohar), one of the primary symbols of Zoroastrianism, believed to be the depiction of a Fravashi (guardian spirit)

Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, or Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty in the Middle East

Karim Khan, the Laki ruler of the Zand Dynasty

Impression of a Kurdish man by American artist Antonio Zeno Shindle circa 1893

Provisions of the Treaty of Sèvres for an independent Kurdistan (in 1920)

Kurdish-inhabited areas of the Middle East and the Soviet Union in 1986, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Iranian Kurds celebrating Newroz, 20 March 2018

Qazi Muhammad, the President of the Republic of Kurdistan

The President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, meeting with U.S. officials in Baghdad, Iraq, on 26 April 2006

Kurdish girls in traditional Kurdish costume, Newroz picnic in Kirkuk

Pro-independence rally in Erbil in September 2017

Tunar Rahmanoghly singing Kurdish song "Rinda Min". Khari Bulbul Music Festival

Protest in Berlin, Germany against Turkey's military offensive into north-eastern Syria on 10 October 2019

Hamdi Ulukaya, Kurdish-American billionaire, founder and CEO of Chobani

The fox, a widely recurring character in Kurdish tales

A Kurdish nobleman bearing a jambiya dagger

Bahman Ghobadi at the presentation of his film Nobody Knows About Persian Cats in San Sebastián, 2009

Eren Derdiyok, a Kurdish footballer, striker for the Swiss national football team

Mercier. Kurde (Asie) by Auguste Wahlen, 1843

Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish females in their traditional clothes, 1873

Kurdish Cavalry in the passes of the Caucasus mountains (The New York Times, January 24, 1915)

A Kurdish woman from Piranshahr, Iran, Antoin Sevruguin

A Kurdish woman and a child from Bisaran, Eastern Kurdistan, 2017

A group of Kurdish men with traditional clothing, Hawraman

A Kurdish man wearing traditional clothes, Erbil

Kurds (کورد ,Kurd) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria.

During Iran–Iraq War, Tehran has provided support for Iraqi-based Kurdish groups like KDP or PUK, along with asylum for 1.4 million Iraqi refugees, mostly Kurds.

Kurds also have a presence in Kirkuk, Mosul, Khanaqin, and Baghdad.

Basra

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View of Basra in circa 1695, by Dutch cartographer Isaak de Graaf

Basra designed by the Portuguese at the end of the 16th century, according to the representation of the "Lyvro de plantaforma of the fortresses of India" codex of São julião da Barra

Purple - Portuguese in the Persian Gulf in the 16th and 17th century. Main cities, ports and routes.

Turkish prisoners passing along the bank of Ashar Creek, nearing Whiteley's Bridge, Basra 1917.

Shanasheel of the old part of Basra city, 1954

Basra (ٱلْبَصْرَة) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab.

The population declined during the Iran–Iraq War, being under 900,000 in the late 1980s, possibly reaching a low point of just over 400,000 during the worst of the war.

The city is located along the Shatt al-Arab waterway, 55 km from the Persian Gulf and 545 km from Baghdad, Iraq's capital and largest city.

Saddam in August 1998, preparing to deliver a speech for the 10th anniversary of the end of the Iran–Iraq War

Saddam Hussein

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Saddam in his youth as a shepherd in his village, near Tikrit

Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath Party student cell, Cairo, in the period 1959–1963

Promoting women's literacy and education in the 1970s

Saddam talking to Michel Aflaq, the founder of Ba'athist thought, in 1988

Alexei Kosygin (left) and Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr signing the Iraqi–Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Co-Operation in 1972

Propaganda art to glorify Saddam after Iran–Iraq War, 1988.

Saddam Hussein and al-Bakr, de jure president of Iraq alongside Hafez al-Assad of Syria at an Arab Summit in Baghdad in November 1978

Saddam greeting Carlos Cardoen, a Chilean businessman who provided Iraq with weapons during the war in the 1980s

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie meets Saddam for an emergency meeting

Iraqi stamp about the Arab Cooperation Council (ACC), founded 1989 by Saleh of (North) Yemen, king Hussein of Jordan, Saddam Hussein and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt

Saddam addresses state television, in January 2001

Statue of Saddam being toppled in Firdos Square after the invasion

Saddam is discovered and interrogated by American soldiers, December 2003

Hussein after being captured and shaven to confirm his identity

Saddam Hussein's sons Qusay and Uday were killed in a gun battle in Mosul on 22 July 2003.

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي; 28 April 1935 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003.

He suppressed several movements, particularly Shi'a and Kurdish movements which sought to overthrow the government or gain independence, respectively, and maintained power during the Iran–Iraq War and the Gulf War.

At about age 10, Saddam fled the family and returned to live in Baghdad with his uncle Khairallah Talfah, who became a fatherly figure to Saddam.