The 361st Night of Memory -2

Compiled by: Leila Rostami
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2025-01-07

Note: The 361st Night of Memory program narrated by the border guards of the police force was held on September 26 of 2024 in the Soura Hall of the Islamic Revolution Art Center under the title "The Border of Persistence". In this program, Brigadier General Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Jabbar Hosseini and Serdar Ahmad Goodarzi shared their memories. The Night of Memory was led by Davud Salehi.

 

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The second narrator of the program, Sardar Ahmad Ali Goodarzi, said at the beginning of his speech: It was Mehr 1361. One day, a brother came and said: "Give us this Uzi[i], we will give you a Kalashnikova gun. Be kind to us. We want to go in front of your unit." I gave him the Uzi and left. It didn't take five minutes before the sound of an explosion was heard. I saw the motorcyclist, who was wearing a windbreaker, returning with a person sitting behind him. The mine had exploded and the Turkish motorcyclist had both his hands cut off. The contents of his eyes were also pouring out. His nose was also gone. I put him in a Land Rover to take him to Dehloran. On the way, he would say: “God is sufficient for us. He is the best advocate, the best guardian, and the best helper.” You couldn’t feel the pain in this man! I was a mine and booby trap instructor. I had seen many fighters step on mines and their legs were cut off and the veins in their legs were shaking. This person’s veins were also shaking, but he was as strong and steadfast as a mountain.

It was the month of Rabi’ al-Awwal and Unity Week in 1983. After the morning ceremony, the command office called me and another brother named Ghadrat Goodarzi. We said, “What are they doing, God?! I was among the top ranks of the university at the end of my service. I chose to see the tropical period myself. At that time, I went to Shiraz. They had investigated whether we were good officers or not. They told me: “You are in charge of the 4th Battalion of the 207th Company.” They also told Qodrat Godarzi: “You are also the support commander.” I said: “Oh my God! It’s a war; they are handing over 400, 500 people to a lieutenant! They trust us!”

We went and organized ourselves and took the unit to the Ahvaz police station. They said that a gentleman named Yeganeh would come and take you to Musian and Nahr Anbar. We prayed the noon prayer and gave each of us a tuna fish. While I really dislike tuna fish and was just dipping bread in tuna oil, I saw someone come and say: “Who is the commander here?” I raised my hand. He said: “Why didn’t you warn me?” I said: “Beware?!” There were cannons and bullets in Ahvaz. He said a little upset and angry: “Move behind me with your unit.”

It was getting dark. We reached Dehloran and Musian at the time of the Maghrib prayer. Several bullets rang out beside us. The Beit al-Maqdis and Fath al-Mubin operations had just been completed. The Iraqis had been defeated and had retreated from the Naderi Bridge, or Naderi Bridge, fifteen kilometers from Andimeshk, towards Fekah and Musian. There were many bodies lying around. We prayed the evening prayers. They said, “The headquarters commander has business with you.” Martyr Hajibzadeh was from Khuzestan and the head of the 2nd Regiment[ii]. He was sitting in a casual shirt. Melons had been placed in front of them. He said, “Here you go!” I said, “If you have a quota, the comrade didn’t eat lunch. I’ll take some melon for them.” He didn’t give melon and said, “Go, tomorrow at 4:30 in the morning, before it gets light, let’s go together so I can show you the place. You have to carry out an operation.”

The operation was at the mouth of Bayat and Anbar River and Hill 290 of the Hamrin heights. One of the Kermanshah comrades I had gone to and taught, Mr. Yousefi, said to me: “Hajj Ahmad!” I said: “Yes.” He said: “You want to go and take back these heights?!” I said: “Yes.” He said: “They beheaded 70 soldiers here, how do you want to go alone! Do you want to go and take them there with these 200-300 people?!” I said: “Yes, we are going.” While we were talking, Iraqi planes came and bombed Dehloran. We came a little further back and stood back when I saw a telex from Khuzestan saying, “This operation should not be carried out.” The next day and the day after, a large number of divisions and brigades came to the area and the entire Abbas and Ain Khosh plains were filled with army and IRGC units and other parts.

The narrator continued about the unseen aid in the Sacred Defense: It was 4-5 in the afternoon when we left Ain Khosh area so that everyone could go from the evacuation point to the place that was designated for them. A dust storm rose from the Iraqi side so that we could not see a meter away from ourselves. At night, there was heavy rain that lasted 2 hours. We were 4 meters away from the Iraqi trench. We ourselves dug a trench and waited for the code word. We truly saw the grace and providence of God and the Imam of the Time; because when we went, we saw that all the Iraqis were inside the trench because of the rain and because of the rain, they basically did not feel that we were entering. The narrator continued: Iraq wanted to take Ahvaz in a week. As the Arabs say, they will cut off Al-Ahvaz and Al-Mohammara and the main artery of Iran's courtyard! What happened that the Iranians, while taking back their land, came seventy kilometers into Iraqi territory after 16 months and captured all the oil wells of Abu Ghraib. Now see the difference between them and us! Imam Khomeini (RA) had ordered: “Cover the oil wells of Iraq. The oil wells belong to the country and the people of Iraq, not Saddam.” The same Imam that French journalist and author Oriana Fallachi said: “When Imam Khomeini frowns and frowns, the political equations of the world are upset.”

The narrator concluded his recollection by saying: I had gone to Mashhad to visit when the comrades said: “Today at 3 o’clock there is a ceremony to commemorate a martyr.” When Hajj Agha said that we should continue the path of the warriors, my colleagues know what Negor[iii] and Jakigor[iv] mean! The martyred soldier, “Amir Hossein Sheikh Hadi” was martyred this year in Jaqigor and at a border post in defense of the country from thirst. See the zeal of this martyr who, while being martyred, had placed a weapon under his stomach so that no one would take it. His parents had only one son. His father stood firm like a mountain and said, "If I had another son, I would sacrifice him for the Islamic Republic."

 
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