First Battle of al-Faw 1986
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 11 February 1986 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1986 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | derived from year |
| Location | Iraq | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Iran–Iraq War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 29.9753, 48.4725 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The First Battle of al-Faw was a battle of the Iran–Iraq War, fought on the al-Faw peninsula between 10 February and 10 March 1986. The Iranian operation is considered to be one of Iran's greatest achievements in the Iran–Iraq War. The Iranians were able to capture the al-Faw peninsula, cutting off Iraqi access to the Persian Gulf in the process; this in turn hardened Iraqi attitudes to prosecute the war. The Faw peninsula was later recaptured by Iraqi forces near the end of the war.
On 9 February 1986, Iran launched Operation Dawn 8, a sophisticated and carefully planned amphibious assault across the Shatt al-Arab (Arvand Rud) river against the Iraqi troops defending the strategic al-Faw peninsula, which connects Iraq to the Persian Gulf. The Iranians defeated the Iraqi defenders, mostly Iraqi Popular Army, capturing the tip of the peninsula, including Iraq's main air control and warning center covering Persian Gulf, as well as limiting Iraq's access to the ocean. Iran managed to maintain their foothold in Al-Faw against several Iraqi counter-offensives, including Republican Guard assaults and chemical attacks, for another month despite heavy casualties until a stalemate was reached.
The First Battle of al-Faw was a major success for Iran who now held an important strategic position, but worried other states in the region, primarily in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, who increased their…
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article First Battle of al-Faw (revision 1373264665), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Iran–Iraq War
- Battle of Khorramshahr (1980) 1980
- Operation Scorch Sword 1980
- Siege of Abadan 1980
- H-3 airstrike 1981
- Operation Nasr 1981
- Operation Tariq al-Quds 1981
- Battle of Khorramshahr (1982) 1982
- Battle of the Marshes 1984
- Siege of Basra 1987
- USS Stark incident 1987
All 11 battles of the Iran–Iraq War →
Browse more: battles in Iraq · Asia · Post-1945 battles