Both sides claim gains

Press, 16 July 1982, Page 6

Both sides claim gains

NZPA London Iranian forces are consolidating positions within 15km of the strategic Iraqi port of Basra in an invasion aimed at settling the 22-month-old Gulf war by toppling the Iraqi President (Mr Saddam Hussein), reports Teheran radio. The advance which had begun on Wednesday on the orders of Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny, had taken the Iranians, 25km into Iraq, it said. Iraq reported fierce fighting near Basra yesterday but said that it had inflicted, heavy losses on the Iranians. Communiques from the Iraqi High Command said that its forces were pressing on with a counter-attack and had destroyed a big part of the invasion force. An earlier communique spoke of triumphant battles and suggested that the Iranian thrust had been blunted. But official announcements from Bagdad, the Iraqi capital, gave only the vaguest picture of the fighting and offered no detailed casualty figures. Ayatollah Khomeiny had called on the Iraqi people and army to join his troops and overthrow “the blasphemous regime of Saddam” and /establish an Islamic Government. > • The Iranians are apparently aiming for Basra, Iraq's second biggest city and its main outlet to the Gulf, only 30km north of Kuwait. They appeared also to be making for the main high-

way between Basra and Bagdad. The area north of Basra, where the fighting was taking place, is mostly difficult marshland. Military experts in Beirut said that if the Iranians were to push forward across the Shatt al-Arab waterway, they would be right on top of Iraq’s main southern oilfields and at the gates of Basra, a city of 500,000 people. But they said that the Shatt, which is several hun- . dred metres wide, was a formidable natural obstacle and there was no sign yet that the Iranians were near to crossing it. Teheran radio, quoting military commanders,. said that Iraqi forces had put up little resistance and two divisions had been wiped out. At least 400 Iraqis had been captured and hundreds killed or wounded, the radio said. In retaliation Iraqi planes had struck cities in western

Iran, hitting housing areas and causing hundreds of casualties, it said.

The radio quoted an Army commander as saying that 20 Soviet-made T 72 tanks in an Iraqi armoured brigade had been destroyed and several others captured intact. It quoted the commander as saying that Iranian forces were consolidating positions while minefields were cleared.

The invasion, code-named Ramadan after the Muslim fasting month, comes after Iranian military successes earlier this year, in which the. Iraqis were expelled from positions inside Iran that they had occupied since the early days of the war. Ayatollah Khomeiny, who had previously ordered his Army not to attack Iraq, addressed, the Iraqi Army in a message read on Teheran radio.

“Our brothers have come to save you and send this oppressor regime to hell ... save your country with the help of your Iranian brothers and do not let the destiny of your country be decided in America.” he said.

The latest communique from Bagdad quoted Iraq’s Defence Minister (Lieuten-ant-General Adnan Khairallah Talfah) as saying that Iraqi forces had stood their ground against the Iranian offensive and were striking back, inflicting serious losses.

The official agency quoted a military spokesman as saying that oil transport companies should stay away from Iran’s main oil terminal at Kharg Island, “otherwise they will become as from today, fixed and vital targets for our Iraqi Air Force aircraft.”

The Iraqi News Agency quoted a Bagdad military spokesman as saying that many Iranians had been taken prisoner and 36 tanks, eight armoured personnel carriers, 10 vehicles, one helicopter, two large fieldguns and three excavators had been destroyed. Iranian field pieces captured had included 25 tanks. American officials have estimated that about 100,000 Iraqis are facing 80.000 Iranians around Basra. Earlier this week Iran rejected a unanimous call by the United Nations Security Council for a cease-fire and a peaceful settlement to the war, which began on September 23, 1980.