Memories of Muhammad Nabi Rudaki About Operation Muharram

Selected by Fariba Almasi
Translated by Ruhollah Golmoradi

2024-11-14

Operation Muharram ranged from Abu Ghraib to Bayat checkpoint. The forces of Imam Hossein (a.s.) Brigade, who were shock troopers, faced the flooding of the Doirej River in Chamsari area and most of their three battalions were washed away. Hossein Kharazi and I went there in the next morning. Their martyrs were often martyred with rescuers' backpacks, stretchers and guns in their hands, and they were taken out from the mud. It was a heartbreaking scene. Later, about 375 martyrs were martyred in Isfahan, and most of these martyrs were related to the flood incident.

In Operation Muharram, due to the fact that the brigade of Imam Hossein (a.s.) had been disintegrated during the flooding of Doirej River and the unpredictable casualties, the operation in the region of Zubaidat and Sharhani was carried out by Imam Sajjad (a.s.) Brigade. Hossein Kharazi called me, and we started operation before daylight. Havaniruz )Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation( also went out of their way in Operation Muharram. Several helicopters (Bell 214) were assigned to deliver ammunition and troops to the other side of the river and to evacuate the wounded to this side of the river for us, which was very effective. We requested a helicopter from Hassan Bagheri to transfer Battalion 981 under the command of brother Nekoui-Mehr (the battalion that captured Hill 400), and he sent a helicopter to transfer the troops. In this operation, commands of IRGC, AJA (IRI’s Army), and Jihad Sazandegi participated together.

We had eight battalions at our disposal, and we put them all into action during the 10-day operation. Among the commanders of our battalions, Mr. Nekouimehr, Ahmad Haghighi, Ghazani and Majid Sepasi were injured. Mr. Ranjbar Eslamlou[1], the commander of Battalion 981, and Hossein Moshfeq, the substitutes, filled their place. We organized and used these eight battalions in this operation several times.

On the morning of the fourth day of the operation, I was in the Hill 400 area where Hassan Bagheri had come to investigate and we happened to see each other there. I told him there are no Iraqis in the Bazargan Plain and the Hur al-Sanaf Plain. Iraqi forces are on the same Hamrin Mountains and heights 178 and 175, and their rear is empty and they have not foreseen any major precautions. You have chosen an area where if we take advantage of the situation, we can easily capture the upper mountain and settle in the enemy's rear area and proceed. Martyr Bagheri carefully listened to my words, then patted me on the back and said, “Nabi, why don't you speak in the meetings?! Well, give this suggestion there.” I said you make this suggestion now. He went and discussed this suggestion with Mr. Rashid and came to a conclusion. They said the operation can be continued here, but the force on the front weren’t enough skillful, and the very suggestion led to operations Val-Fajr Moghadamati (preliminary) and Val-Fajr-1; Because that area caught the eyes of Mr. Rashid and Mr. Hassan Bagheri.

Our goal was up to 400 heights in Zubaidat and 175 and 178 altitudes. Operation in Heights 175 and 178 were shared with Imam Hossein (a.s.) Brigade at first, but after that, nullifying anti-attacks was undertaken by Imam Sajjad (a.s.) Brigade.

On the morning of the 12^th of November 1982, Iraqis started to anti-attack in the sand hills of Zubaidat again. As the brigade commander, I went to the right side of the axis from Sharhani checkpoint and was present on the line to lead the troops. Majid Sepasi, the commander of Battalion 973, was injured there, and his substitute brother Hossein Moshfeq took over the command of the battalion. We put Mr. Hassan Haqnegahdar in charge of the right axis and Mr. Towhidi as the commander of Battalion 983 instead of Mr. Sabouri who was injured. Hossein Moshfeq, who had become the commander of the battalion 973, was also martyred in that anti-attack. Abbas Yazdanpanah was martyred in this battalion and Mr. Haqnegahdar, who was in charge of our axis, was also injured. We put Mr. Shirvani in place of Mr. Nekouimehr, who was injured too. Shirvani was also martyred in the anti-attacks. Mr. Rashidi from the 983rd Battalion and Mr. Ruhipour, the company commander from the 981st Battalion, were injured. These were the martyrs and wounded of the battalion’s military ranks. In this operation, Mr. Ruhipour ambushed an Iraqi water tanker, which had mistakenly entered our line, and captured three Iraqis, one of whom was an officer, and brought them to the brigade’s headquarters.

On the November 13, Hossein Kharazi called me and a meeting was held with Hassan Bagheri to decide on the deployment of the commands in the line. According to the decision of that meeting, which lasted until 11 p.m., they replaced us with the 44^th Brigade of Qamar Bani Hashem in Zubaidat area. We brought our forces to the rear camp and reorganized. On the November 14, we sent our battalions on leave and Operation Muharram came almost to its end after about two weeks.[2]