A brief review of the book "The Riders of Nineveh"
Oral History of Veteran Warrior "Haj Samad Abbasi"
Fereydoun Heydari Molkmian
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad
2021-11-23
Note: Dr. Jalal Kaviani has been in charge of interviewing and compiling the book entitled "The Riders of Nineveh". The first edition of the book was published in 2020 by the Foundation for the Preservation of Relics and Publication of the Values of the Sacred Defense in West Azerbaijan, in 332 pages and 200 copies, and has entered the book market for 330,000 Rials.
The book "The Riders of Nineveh" has a good cover design and some photos have been shown on both sides of the book cover. The content page, with three pages, contains the main titles and sub-titles of the five chapters of the book in detail. Then the introduction of the Sacred Defense Documentation Center has been mentioned followed by the compiler's introduction. The text of the book is based on interviews with questions and answers; In the end, there are appendices including documents (mission orders and end of missions documents) and photos of the fighter (in the sacred defense, maneuvers, and missions imposed after the war) have relatively good quality and the last ten pages of the book are dedicated to the list of announcements.
The first chapter is related to the narration of the narrator's childhood. He introduces himself as follows: "I am Samad Mullah Ali Abbasian known as Samad Abbasi, I was born on November 16, 1960, in the city of Urmia ..." In this way, it becomes clear why the name and surname of this veteran warrior are written in two different ways on the cover and title page of the book.
In the following, he introduces his family members (his parents and four brothers) and mentions the life and personal characteristics of each of them; He even talks about the situation in their area and the customs of the area and mentions his childhood games. Then, the narrator talks about the elementary and middle school years and his participation in the cultural programs of Du kuheh Mosque; the high school also coincides with the formation of the Islamic Revolution.
The second chapter deals with the revolution. The narrator describes his revolutionary activities and his actions in the struggle against the Shah's rule and how he entered the revolution: "The revolution was formed in Qom; it gradually spread to other cities. In Urmia, it started with putting a picture of the Imam in mosques and giving a speech against the Shah ..."At that time, one of his tasks was to record the voices of the speakers; then, along with their friends, while copying and typing, they published its contents in various announcements and distributed them among the people during the lectures. With the victory of the revolution, along with the revolutionary youth, he participated in "Local Organizing" to maintain security, and together they guarded and protected the city's neighborhoods and confronted the counter-revolution."
The third chapter describes the time when the narrator joined to the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps). Since he was already studying, he could not formally join the IRGC and served as a semi-active guard, but this connection allowed him to become acquainted with the nature and mission of the IRGC. Knowing that the main goal of the IRGC is to preserve the values of the Islamic Revolution, he became steadier in his thoughts that he should join the IRGC in any way so that he can serve better. This was time the imposed war had started and the insecurity of the province had reached its peak. First, he became a member of the Urmia Corps Operations Unit and participated in the clean-up operation of the villages around Urmia under the command and supervision of Martyr Mehdi Bakeri. He was also involved in the mission to identify and clear the Serow area.
The fourth chapter is dedicated to the imposed war. It starts with Operation Beit-ol-Moqaddas and ends with the Khyber operation, and between these two operations, there is talk of clearing the village of Khanik, a mission in Naqada, a mission in the Beit-ol-Moqaddas battalion, protection of personalities and a destruction unit. He was injured in Beit-ol-Moqaddas Operation. He was flown and transferred firstly to Yazd and then to Tehran a week later. After treatment, he spent some time on vacation and returns to the Urmia Corps when he was relatively ready. He participated in the cleaning Khanik village in the border strip of Serow area. After that, he was assigned to form the intelligence department in the Cash Corps. He stayed in Naqadeh for about three months and returned to Urmia and went on another mission. He and two others were sent to the Operation Beit-ol-Moqaddas Battalion at the army barracks in Qushchi. After the end of the mission, when he returned to Urmia, he was transferred to the Personnel Protection Unit under the supervision of the IRGC. And after seven months of service in the protection unit, he was sent to the destruction unit until the members of the destruction group were asked to introduce him to the IRGC to be sent to the war front to take part in the Khyber operation. The fifth chapter, entitled "Combat Engineering", accounts for more than half of the book's volume. Haj Samad gave a detailed answer to all the questions and issues raised in this chapter.
After the South mission, he worked in the engineering unit to help with support. Before that, the engineering unit consisted of several separate units, including road construction, bridge construction, fortifications and destruction units. The units almost did the support works, but the support work of these units was concentrated with the formation of the engineering support unit. For example, the road engineering unit was to create access to borders, operational bases, build fortifications and barriers; In the meantime; his job was to prepare facilities from three locations: public aid, Hamza camp engineering, and support. In his opinion, his activities in the engineering unit were a landmark in his military and personal life, because he gradually learned things and made him more experienced in engineering and combat. He served in the engineering [unit] of the IRGC in Urmia for about seven months, but after the martyrdom of Mehdi Bakri and his symbolic funeral, he was assigned a new mission at the Hamzeh camp in the Oshnoyeh region.
At the same time, when he returned from Oshnoyeh, he got married to one of his relatives who had believed: "I will marry with a militant; I will not marry if he is not the militant."
Haj Samad's mental presence and practical activity in current issues and events are still prominent and exemplary; He had a special role in his meeting with the martyr Sayyad Shirazi, or in an unexpected incident in engineering and safety at work, or in coordination with units, explosions in engineering, work problems and current methods, or even attention to advanced technology and services.
He also participated in the construction of bridges, engineering in Lolan, specialized training, and as mentioned in his memoirs on combat engineering, he was also successful in Operation Valfajr 8 and 9, Engineering Operation in Haj Imran, Operation Karbala 2, Engineering Operation in Piranshahr, Operation Karbala 5, Laying the groundwork for Operation Operation Beit-ol-Moqaddas 2, Border Blocking Operation, Border information, and Border Blocking, period in University of Command and Staff of the army, border re-blocking plan, landscaping in Baneh, Arbaeen plan, Darreh-ye Jahanam operation in Khoy, Qandil mission, operations in Kamyaran and Sanandaj, etc.
Number of Visits: 2734
The latest
- Exiling Hujjat al-Islam Wal-Muslimeen Mohammad Mahdi Roshan to Zabul
- The 359th Night of Memory – 2
- What will happen for oral history in the future?
- Oral History Does Not Belong to the Realm of Literature
- Da (Mother) 124
- Memories of Muhammad Nabi Rudaki About Operation Muharram
- Study and Research as Foundations for the Authenticity of Narrators
- The 359th Night of Memory – 1
Most visited
Destiny Had It So
Memoirs of Seyyed Nouraddin AfiIt was early October 1982, just two or three days before the commencement of the operation. A few of the lads, including Karim and Mahmoud Sattari—the two brothers—as well as my own brother Seyyed Sadegh, came over and said, "Come on, let's head towards the water." It was the first days of autumn, and the air was beginning to cool, but I didn’t decline their invitation and set off with them.