Operation Kerbala 5 - January 9th, 1987

Important note: BV is impossible in this scenario.

Commander, Iran tries again to capure Basra, hold the city at all costs!

Historical backround:
With the Iran-Iraq War in its seventh year, both sides were determined to break the stalemate. Irans target was the city of Basra, which was both a key port and vital oil source for Iraq. Iran decided that the city had to fall in order for Saddam Hussein to fall as well. Iran had besieged the city since 1982, yet it remained determined to make this the final battle of the war. The Iranians also wanted to link up with forces in the already captured Fao Peninsula in southern Iraq. The timing of the operation was to coincide with winter, so that the heavy rains would hinder the Iraqi armor and air defenses. The Iraqis, however, intended to break the stalemate by inflicting as many casualties as possible on the Iranian forces, hoping to break the morale of the Iranian people.
The Iraqi Republican Guard took the initiative with a counterattack on January 28. Using waves of tanks, artillery, and helicopter gunships, the Iraqi Third Army Corps assaulted the Iranians on the western side of Fish Lake before turning south towards Jasim. Artillery effectively pounded Iranian re-supply and reinforcement routes. These bombardments, along with the advancing Iraqi armor into the battlezone, created a pincher movement that effectively crushed the hard-fought salient by February 7.
