Air Raid to Al-Waleed (1)

The Story of Demolishing Fighters and the Equipment in Al-Waleed Triple Military Bases ‎Known as H-3‎

2015-12-29

Air Raid to Al-Waleed (H-3)‎
The Story of Demolishing Fighters and the Equipment in Al-Waleed Triple Military Bases ‎Known as H-3‎

By: Brigadier General Ahmad Mehrnia
Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company
‎2010 (Persian Version)‎
Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with the owners of the Elephant? (1) Did He not bring their ‎stratagem to naught, (2) And send against them swarms of flying creatures, (3) Which pelted them ‎with stones of baked clay, (4) And made them like green crops devoured (by cattle)? (5)‎

‎“I would say that this war is a treasure. Could we be able to extract the treasure or not? ‎Now that there is no war anymore, and we don’t want ourselves to make a war which will ‎be the appearance arena of Revolution values, that eight-year war must feed our history. ‎It should be display what there really was in our battle arena in the eight years of war - ‎when the resistance spirit and sacrifice has expressed with sincerity.” ‎

‎(Excerpts from the Supreme Leader’s remarks in a meeting with members of Hoze Honari’s ‘Bureau ‎for the Literature and Art of Resistance’, July 1991)‎

Author’s foreword
There is less air force in the world that has to endure more than a few months of the war. ‎After creation and use of air force in its modern form; that is from the end of World War I, ‎so far, only a handful of countries, which had been either manufacturer and had have ‎strong economic strength or strongly have supported by the great powers materially and in ‎equipment, has recorded experiences of long aerial combat in their file ‎. The reason is the ‎high cost of air warfare, the sensitivity and complexity of the equipment, the rapid aging of ‎the force and other factors which can’t be explored in this book.‎
From the beginning of Farvardin, 1359 (April 1980) to the end of war, Islamic Republic ‎of Iran Air Force could manage effectively eight years of war with high-mindedness of ‎holy men in continuous and strong operations, without any outside help, even in ‎conditions of sanctions and global economic-political pressures; even up to 1375 (1996) ‎neutralized enemies’ conspiracies and hypocrites terrorist group, bombed frequently their ‎headquarter in the depth of Iraq’s field and prevented any possible activity after Mersad ‎operation.‎
With numerous activities, including offensive strikes to facilities, equipment and armor ‎of the enemy in the occupied territories and in the soil of Iraq; support the surface forces ‎on land and sea; neutralizing activity and offensive operations against the enemy in the ‎air, land and sea; displacement of forces from the farthest parts of the country to the ‎operational areas of the South and West, particularly in special circumstances and ‎sometimes up to two or even three times of aircraft capacity; evacuation of  injured from ‎operation zones throughout the country; escort commercial ships and tanker fleet in the ‎Persian Gulf; carrying equipment and ammunition to the bases of operational areas; aerial ‎reconnaissance missions anywhere in the enemy territory and each time it was necessary; ‎dropping leaflets on cities in Iraq in the form of psychological operations; doing search ‎operations and rescue and assistance to areas affected by natural disasters; and even ‎sending troops to the front to help the Army comrades, this force could offer more than ‎‎210 pilot martyrs, as the highest proportion of martyrs to the total number of operational ‎pilots, and along with other martyrs of employees ‎ and even their family or their relatives, ‎performs its great duty in the Islamic system and always eternal land of Iran, without any ‎claim and discuss about the importance of their operations. ‎
Today, however, a long time has elapsed from stopping the war, but still even a small ‎part of these heroes’ courage and bravery, which should be a lesson for posterity and ‎young colleagues, has not properly presented to the presence of great nation of Iran. ‎Therefore, I thought it is my task, as far as possible and the conditions allow me, to collect ‎facts and events, especially of survivors of war and with the help of obvious and ‎accessible documents; I compiled the most accurate narratives as a book on various topics ‎and put it at the disposal of enthusiasts. This book, which has explained one of the largest ‎air operations in modern warfare history, i.e. invasion to Al-Waleed bases in Iraq on the ‎far West, and also explains the fabulous process of it in leaders and other partners’ ‎language, is a sample of this action. Compiling the book, I interviewed in person or by ‎telephone with all those involved in this operation and accessibility with them is possible, ‎while examining the documents. Nevertheless, few of colleagues apologized for reviewing ‎their memories, because of unkindness that they had felt after years of war and captivity. ‎One or two people due to some reasons, including not wanting to reduce the divine reward ‎of the work which was done for the sake of God by explain it, or worrying that their words ‎will be subtract or distorted or censored, one or two people did not accept to do interview. ‎For dear reader's attention, it is appropriate to draw a sample:‎
One of the heroes of the air war said: “during surface support of combatant forces in ‎Fataholmobin operation, the reporter of ‘Islamic Republic’ newspaper asked me: “do your ‎facilities meet the numerous missiles of Iraq? And how you confront with such amount of ‎anti-aircraft missiles?” I said that of course our facilities are a little older than the enemy’s ‎equipment, but in addition to relying on the stray missiles systems, I utter a Salavat and ‎entrust to God. God willing, nothing will happen. Later, I saw that they make a headline of ‎my remark as: “he said that I utter a Salavat for repelling anti-aircraft missiles of enemy.”  ‎It became an excuse for friends from that day. Everyone saw me, said that we're going to ‎do operations, utter a Salavat for repelling missiles! Therefore, I have always avoided ‎interview with reporters.” ‎
Anyway, I wish God grant me the opportunity to be able to write about the other angles ‎of nation’s men sacrifices, especially in the field of air operations, with the help of His ‎Holy Nature and cooperation of unassuming men’s of holy defense. I hope the posterity, ‎who has not understood the space of long and heavy imposed war, takes a pride in the ‎identity and authority of his heroes by studying these lasting works.‎
At the end, in the course of abundant appreciation of Brigadier General Hassan Shah ‎Safi - respected Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) - second ‎Brigadier General Hossein Cheetforoushan - the head of IRIAF Department of Studies and ‎Research - who encourage me sincerely, also retired second Brigadier General, Alireza ‎NamakiIraqi  and all my colleagues, friends, especially those who helped me in writing this ‎book with their presence in my house; with respect to the fact that a small part of the ‎operation information was unclear until the publication, the inclusion of most measures of ‎cooperation on the ground, arms and ammunition, as well as radar specialists was not ‎possible; I beg readers if it is possible for them to present more information about the ‎mission or have any proposal in order to enrich this book and similar books will be written ‎in the future, send their information via email (Amehrnia@yahoo.com) or cell phone ‎‎(09123359354) to be used in the subsequent publications. I hope they benefit from the ‎intercession of the martyrs and readers’ blessing.‎
It also notes that due to non-use of Air Force documents, it is likely that there will be ‎slight differences in the presentation of event.‎

Thanks a lot, Ahmed Mehrnia

To be continued…‎