First day - September 22nd, 1980

General, its time to show Khomeiny the direction. The holy war against the mollahs has began. For your first mission you will take command of the iraqi air force and you will have to deatroy Iranian air defense units and all jet hangars you can find. May Allah be with you. For Saddam !

Historical Background:
On September 22nd, 1980, formations of Iraqi MiG-23s and MiG21s attacked Iranian air bases at Mehrabad and Doshen-
Tappen (both near Teheran), as well as Tabriz, Bakhtaran, Ahvaz, Dezful, Uromiyeh, Hamadan, Sanandaj, and Abadan. Their aim was to destroy the Iranian air force on the ground -a lesson learned from the Arab-Israeli June 1967 War-. 
They succeeded in destroying runways, fuel and ammunition depots, but much of Iranian aircraft inventory was left intact. Iranian defenses were caught by surprise, but the Iraqi raids failed because Iranian jets were protected in specially strengthened hangars and because bombs designed to destroy runways did not totally incapacitate Iranian very large airfields. Within hours, Iranian F-4 Phantoms took off from the same bases, successfully attacked strategically important targets close to major Iraqi cities, and returned home with very few losses.
