A report on Iran–Iraq WarBaghdad and Kurds

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
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Flag of Kurdistan
Meeting of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Houari Boumédiène and Saddam Hussein (left to right) during the Algiers Agreement in 1975.
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Kurdish-inhabited areas in the Middle East (1992)
Ruhollah Khomeini rose to power after the Iranian Revolution.
An 1808 picture of Baghdad from the print collection in Travels in Asia and Africa, etc. (ed. J. P. Berjew, British Library)
Yazidi new year celebrations in Lalish, 18 April 2017
Location of Khuzestan Province in Iran which Iraq planned to annex
An 1468 painting of Floods in Baghdad by Shirwan
Faravahar (or Ferohar), one of the primary symbols of Zoroastrianism, believed to be the depiction of a Fravashi (guardian spirit)
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.
The Round city of Baghdad between 767 and 912 AD
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, or Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty in the Middle East
The Shatt al-Arab on the Iran–Iraq border
Baghdad Museum is a local history museum. It features 70 scenes from different periods using lifesize models presenting Baghdad life
Kurdish Warriors by Frank Feller
Destroyed Iranian C-47 Skytrain
Courtyard of Mustansiriya madrasa, established by Al-Mustansir in 1227
Karim Khan, the Laki ruler of the Zand Dynasty
Iranian F-14A Tomcats equipped with AIM-54A, AIM-7 and AIM-9 missiles.
Khan Murjan, built in the 14th century as a caravanserai
Impression of a Kurdish man by American artist Antonio Zeno Shindle circa 1893
Resistance of the outnumbered and outgunned Iranians in Khorramshahr slowed the Iraqis for a month.
Al Khulafa mosque retains an Abbasid-era minaret
Provisions of the Treaty of Sèvres for an independent Kurdistan (in 1920)
Iranian president Abulhassan Banisadr on the battlefront
Zumurrud Khatun Tomb in Baghdad (built in 1202 AD)
Kurdish-inhabited areas of the Middle East and the Soviet Union in 1986, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Massoud Rajavi, the leader of MEK and the National Resistance Council of Iran (NCRI) in 1988.
Conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 CE
Two Kurds From Constantinople 1899
The surprise attack on H-3 airbase is considered to be one of the most sophisticated air operations of the war.
Central Asian Turko-Mongol conqueror Timur sacked the city and spared almost no one
Kurdish boys in Diyarbakir
Iranian soldier holding an IV bag during the Iran–Iraq War
The Shabandar Café in Baghdad, 1923
Leyla Zana
Iranian Northrop F-5 aircraft during Iran-Iraq war
Manadotory Iraq, 1921
Iranian Kurds celebrating Newroz, 20 March 2018
Iraqi T-62 tank wreckage in Khuzestan Province, Iran
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.
Qazi Muhammad, the President of the Republic of Kurdistan
Iraqi soldiers surrendering after the Liberation of Khorramshahr
Freedom Monument, Tahrir square in Downtown Baghdad
The President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, meeting with U.S. officials in Baghdad, Iraq, on 26 April 2006
Saddam Hussein in 1982
View of downtown Baghdad, March 2017
Kurdish girls in traditional Kurdish costume, Newroz picnic in Kirkuk
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."
Baghdad as seen from the International Space Station
Pro-independence rally in Erbil in September 2017
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.
Al-Ma'mun's Telecommunication Center in downtown Baghdad
Kurdish YPG and YPJ fighters in Syria
Furthest ground gains
The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra performing in July 2007
Tunar Rahmanoghly singing Kurdish song "Rinda Min". Khari Bulbul Music Festival
Iranian POWs in 1983 near Tikrit, Iraq
The National Ballet performing in 2007
Protest in Berlin, Germany against Turkey's military offensive into north-eastern Syria on 10 October 2019
Iranian child soldier
Chaldean Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows
Hamdi Ulukaya, Kurdish-American billionaire, founder and CEO of Chobani
Iraqi POW who was shot by Iranian troops after they conquered the Iraqi Majnoon oil field in October 1984
The Baghdad Convention Center
YPG's female fighters in Syria
Iranian troops fire 152 mm D-20 howitzer
Qushla Square
The fox, a widely recurring character in Kurdish tales
Battle of the Marshes Iran front 1983 rest after exchange of fire 152 mm D-20 H
Madina Stadium
Modern rug from Bijar
Operation Earnest Will: Tanker convoy No. 12 under US Navy escort (21 October 1987)
Al-Shaab Stadium
A Kurdish nobleman bearing a jambiya dagger
A map indicating the attacks on civilian areas of Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait targeted during the "War of the Cities".
Baghdad Eyalet in 1609 CE.
Kurdish woman with deq tattoo
Iraqi commanders discussing strategy on the battlefront (1986)
Baghdad Vilayet in 1900 CE.
Kurdish musicians, 1890
Iranian President Ali Khamenei on the battlefront during the Iran–Iraq War
Souk in Baghdad, 1876 CE.
Bahman Ghobadi at the presentation of his film Nobody Knows About Persian Cats in San Sebastián, 2009
Operation Dawn 8 during which Iran captured the Faw Peninsula.
Kadhimiya Mosque
Eren Derdiyok, a Kurdish footballer, striker for the Swiss national football team
Iranian soldier killed during the Iran–Iraq War with Rouhollah Khomeini's photo on his uniform
Armenian Orthodox Church of Baghdad
The Marwanid Dicle Bridge, Diyarbakir
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.
Saray Mosque
The Citadel of Erbil
Adnan Khairallah, Iraqi Defense Minister, meeting with Iraqi soldiers during the war
Khilani Mosque
Mercier. Kurde (Asie) by Auguste Wahlen, 1843
IRGC navy speedboats using swarm tactics
Baghdadi Museum
Kurdish warriors by Amadeo Preziosi
An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask during the Iran–Iraq War.
Iraq National Museum
Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish females in their traditional clothes, 1873
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
Al Zawra'a Park
Zakho Kurds by Albert Kahn, 1910s
Iranian soldiers captured during Iraq's 1988 offensives
Al Salam Palace
Kurdish Cavalry in the passes of the Caucasus mountains (The New York Times, January 24, 1915)
USS Vincennes in 1987 a year before it shot down Iran Air Flight 655
Al Faw Palace
A Kurdish woman from Kirkuk, 1922
MEK Soldiers killed in Operation Mersad in 1988
Abu Nawas Street
A Kurdish chief
Al-Shaheed Monument in Baghdad was erected to commemorate the fallen Iraqi soldiers during the war.
A Kurdish woman from Piranshahr, Iran, Antoin Sevruguin
Iranian Martyr Cemetery in Isfahan
A Kurdish woman and a child from Bisaran, Eastern Kurdistan, 2017
Iranian Martyrs Museum in Tehran
A group of Kurdish men with traditional clothing, Hawraman
An Iranian soldier's funeral in Mashhad, 2013
A Kurdish man wearing traditional clothes, Erbil
An Iraqi Mil Mi-24 on display at the military museum of Sa'dabad Palace in Iran
A Kurdish woman fighter from Rojava
President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush work in the Oval Office of the White House, 20 July 1984.
USS Stark (FFG-31) listing following two hits by Exocet missiles.
Victims of the 1987 chemical attack on Sardasht, West Azerbaijan, Iran
Damage to a mosque in Khoramshahr, Iran, the city that was invaded by Iraq in September 1980

In total, around 500,000 people were killed during the war (with Iran bearing the larger share of the casualties), excluding the tens of thousands of civilians killed in the concurrent Anfal campaign targeting Kurds in Iraq.

- Iran–Iraq War

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

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

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

- Kurds

Baghdad is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups with an Arab majority, as well as Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, Yazidis, Shabakis, Armenians and Mandaeans.

- Baghdad
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

2 related topics with Alpha

Overall

Iraq

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Country in Western Asia.

Country in Western Asia.

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.
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
Bronze head of an Akkadian ruler from Nineveh, presumably depicting either Sargon of Akkad, or Sargon's grandson Naram-Sin
Hammurabi, depicted as receiving his royal insignia from Shamash. Relief on the upper part of the stele of Hammurabi's code of laws.
Map of the Neo-Assyrian Empire under Shalmaneser III (dark green) and Esarhaddon (light green)
Jehu, king of Israel, bows before Shalmaneser III of Assyria, 825 BC.
Lamassu from the Assyrian gallery at the Iraq Museum, Baghdad
The Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabonidus (r. 626–539 BC)
A partial view of the ruins of Babylon.
Roman amphitheater in Sulaymaniyah.
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.
The siege of Baghdad by the Mongols.
Conquest of Mosul (Nineveh) by Mustafa Pasha in 1631, a Turkish soldier in the foreground holding a severed head. L., C. (Stecher) 1631 -1650
Crowning of King Faisal II of Iraq in the Council of Representatives, 1953
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Protest in Baghdad in November 2019. The protests were the largest incident of civil unrest Iraq has experienced since the 2003 invasion.
Cheekha Dar, highest point in Iraq.
Iraq Köppen climate classification map.
The Asiatic lion has remained a prominent symbol of the country throughout history.
Baghdad Convention Center, the current meeting place of the Council of Representatives of Iraq.
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.
US President Donald Trump with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in 2017.
Administrative districts of Iraq
Historical GDP per capita development
Agriculture is the main occupation of the people.
Mosul Museum is the second largest museum in Iraq after the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. It contains ancient Mesopotamian artifacts.
Supertankers at the Basra Oil Terminal
Mosul Dam Lake
Lake Dukan
Children in a village in Sulaymaniyah.
Imam Hussein Shrine in Karbala
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
University students in Iraq, 2016
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
Wasiti's illustrations served as an inspiration for the modern Baghdad art movement in the 20th-century.
Zaha Hadid (1950–2016), an acclaimed architect.
Facade of Temple at Hatra, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.
The Queen's gold lyre from the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Iraq Museum, Baghdad.
Masgouf, a popular Iraqi dish.
Madina Stadium in Baghdad is Iraq's first-ever stadium solar power plant, and the second in the Middle East of its kind.
Iraq wall det 2003.
A partial view of the ruins of Babylon.
The siege of Baghdad by the Mongols.
Sunni Arabs
Shiite Arabs
Sunni Kurds
Assyrians
Yazidis
Turkmen

The capital and largest city is Baghdad.

Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups including Iraqi Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, Armenians, Yazidis, Mandaeans, Persians and Shabakis with similarly diverse geography and wildlife.

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.

Basra

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Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab.

Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab.

View of Basra in circa 1695, by Dutch cartographer Isaak de Graaf
Ashar Creek and bazaar, c. 1915
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.
Iraqi girls, c. 1917
Turkish prisoners passing along the bank of Ashar Creek, nearing Whiteley's Bridge, Basra 1917.
Shanasheel of the old part of Basra city, 1954
Model of Basra Dockyard
Basra at night
Basra Times square shopping centre
A Chaldean Catholic Church in Basra.
Ali Bin Abi Talib mosque
Shatt Al-Arab
Old Basrah
Muhhmad Baquir Al-Sadr Bridge
Al Basrah Oil Terminal.
Basra International Stadium in 2013
Old houses of Basra
Ali Bin Abi Talib mosque
Basra International Airport

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.

Political groups centered in Basra were reported to have close links with political parties already in power in the Iraqi government, despite opposition from Iraqi Sunnis and the Kurds.

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.