The 343rd Night of Memoir-2

Compiled by: Leila Rostami
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2023-9-8

Note: The 343rd Night of Memoir was held on Thursday 26th of January 2022 in the Surah Hall of the Art Center with the presence of a group of soldiers and families of the Malik Ashtar Battalion of the Muhammad Rasoolullah (pbuh) Army and honoring the memory of the martyrs of this battalion, especially the martyr Mohammad Reza Karvar. In this program, which was hosted by Davoud Salehi, the veteran and captures Mohammad Rostamifar, Saeed Tahuna and Nusratullah Akbari shared their memories.

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The third narrator of the program was General Nusratullah Akbari, born in Tehran in 1987. He entered the IRGC at a time when the army and brigade had not yet been formed in the IRGC's combat organizations and the battalions were named from 1 to 9. His more serious entry into the holy defense began with the "Public Treasury" operation and as a simple fighter. From 1983 onwards, he was in charge of the Malik Ashtar battalion of the army of Muhammad Rasoolullah (pbuh) in the Badr, Dawn and Karbala 1 operations.

At the beginning of his memoirs, the narrator said: In 1980, we were attending a training course in the barracks, and the war started on 22 September. From there, they told us that we should go to the front and they gave us a day to go home to say goodbye. We moved towards the west Gilan defense line. On the west side, the enemy had taken important heights up to Sarpol Zahab and from the south had reached Khuzestan Bridge. The Iraqi army was a classic army that knew what to do; but we got up from work and behind the school desk and came. We did not know war and we had no experience.

The narrator continued: It was near the morning call to prayer. There was a lot of gunfire and RPG sound. In the morning, I found out that in the middle of the night, with his own permission, Carver left a large velvet logo of the IRGC near the Iraqis and went back. At that time, I was the company commander and Carver was my deputy. I said: Karver, why did you do this?! He said: "It's a lot of noise, we can't eat the property of public treasury without doing anything, we have to do something!"

The narrator then continued his words with how he entered the Malik battalion and said: In 1962, I was in the Moqdad battalion during the Dawn 4 operation and the heights of Kanimanga. On the other hand, Babai had been martyred and Gran Malik had no commander. Martyr Hemat, the commander of Muhammad Rasoullah's (pbuh) army, came to Migdad battalion. All staff members sat down. Martyr Hammet took a look and said: Sir, the Malik-Ashtar Battalion does not have a commander, come and take over the Malik Battalion. Shahidan Khandan, Nozad, Jazmani, Haj Amini, Karvar, I and two or three other comrades looked at each other, but no one dared to say, sir, I am going to take over Malik's battalion. Hammet left the battalion. Karvar came to my ear and said: I want to take Malik's battalion, will you come with me? I said: Yes. I, Karvar, Martyr Haj Amini, along with the late Sedki Chartaei, went and took over Malik battalion.

The comrades who stayed in Malik's battalion did not take us over. They said that we have our own battalion commander and we don't want you. Karvar and I came out of Malik battalion with shame and went to martyr Hammet. We said that you introduced us, but they do not accept us as battalion commanders. Hammet himself put us in the car and brought us to Malik Battalion. He had introduced all the comrades to the line and that these are the battalion commanders. Karvar gathered the comrades and had a brief conversation. He said: Sir, anyone who accepts me should stand, whoever does not accept me, and the way is open. Anyone who wants to go, in the name of God. The comrades stood up and started working with Martyr Karvar and we formed an organization that reached six hundred people during the operation.

The command's plan was to entrust the highest peak of Kanimanga Heights, the 1904 peak, to the Malik Ashtar battalion due to its strong staff. The battalion also conquered the peak. The enemy, armed to the teeth, when he saw that we were going to continue the operation, had stretched himself on the heights. It had everything; the defense line, the ambush and anti-aircraft channel that had placed them on the heights. But by God's grace, the comrades were able to conquer the peak by 10 am, which is unprecedented in any operation. There, Mohsen Rezaei, the then commander of the IRGC, sent a message to the Malik Ashtar battalion: On my behalf, tell the comrades not to be tired, you are hot, you planted flowers, we did not expect you to reach the 1904 peak during the day.

This is a document of honor for the Malik battalion. After the operation, the enemy hid until midnight. I said to Karvar: We don't have power, go get power. We had no problem. The road was not paved. I went down myself. I heard a sound while going down! Brother! Brother! ... I looked around, it was dark and I could not see anyone. I said what?! He said I am injured, take me back. He was shot in the stomach. He ate from this side and came out from that side. I went forward and said: I am going to bring strength, I came back and will take you back. I can't take you alone. He insisted a lot that: I had to take it and take it. I sat down and said throw your figure on me. It was heavy. Because he was injured, he had become heavier. I couldn't get up and fell on my face. I laughed At the time when Karvar is asking for power, I went back to my childhood, for a moment I came to my senses, what are you doing, Dad! Those who are my age remember that we used to play police donkey in the neighborhood, sir, we remembered playing police donkey, when they said, sir, you have become a donkey, ten people were pouring on the person, when the person was sleeping, they said that the donkey slept. I could not bring the injured. The wounded man stayed there and was captured.

He further added: After the Dawn 4 operation, we returned to carry out the Khyber operation. Martyr Hemet said: We have an amphibious operation in Majnoon Island. Organize battalions. Karvar took an initiative there. He went to the army commander and said: Mr. Hemet! We have a conversation with you. We want to make cadres for corps. Nusrat told me! do you cooperate I said what should we do? He said: Since all the comrades of the corps are martyred in the operation, we are responsible for creating cadres from here and giving them to the commander of the company, the battalion and the deputy of the company to raise and deliver the army. This was discussed with Hemat and he accepted. All our battalions were soldiers. Some of our old comrades were Basiji, and from time to time, they became the battalion staff of all the corps. We also made a promise with Mr. Hammet that if we want to take action, he will give us a promise. Provided that we take action with these corps comrades and identify their capabilities, we will tell you what responsibility to give them. Martyr Hammet also accepted.

The Khyber operation began. The golden side was deadlocked no matter what they tried. Then they gave us a mission that you should start attacking Majnoon Island. The mission of the battalion was changed. Karvar himself boarded the helicopter and went to the island. Then he scratched and said: Nusrat, the new place is very bad. I said: How? He said: We don't have obstacles, we don't have a car, we don't have any facilities. We went as far as we went by boat. No matter how many times they went by helicopter on the island, it is the same. We don't have anything else like ammunition and such.

Tomorrow we moved the comrades to the south island in an organized manner. We stayed two nights on the island. The weather was very cold and humid. There was water on our left and swamp on our right. We could only walk on land and levees. The Iraqis were bombing us left and right. The operation was almost a failure. The enemy had understood and gained morale and bombarded more heavily. We had no place except the reeds to entrench and hide. The bombing continued and two nights passed. On the third night, Mr. Aziz Jafari, who was the camp commander, called Malik's battalion and said: You have come to operate in this area. When you reach the intersection, turn towards Taaliye. You hit from behind. Karvar and I were justified and returned.

The next day, a few hours passed and it got dark. We moved to hit the line, but the mission of the battalion changed three times. Karvar had a hard time with me and said: Victory! Come here, go and justify the group leader. I can't justify it anymore, this operation is my last operation, I'm leaving and I won't come back, I made a pact with God that I want to be missing.

To be continued...