Editing Iran–Iraq War (section)

====Iraq's dynamic defence strategy====
Faced with their recent defeats in al-Faw and Mehran, Iraq appeared to be losing the war. Iraq's generals, angered by Saddam's interference, threatened a full-scale mutiny against the Ba'ath Party unless they were allowed to conduct operations freely. In one of the few times during his career, Saddam gave in to the demands of his generals.<ref name=pollack04 />{{page needed|date=September 2020}} Up to this point, Iraqi strategy was to ride out Iranian attacks. However, the defeat at al-Faw led Saddam to declare the war to be ''Al-Defa al-Mutaharakha'' (The Dynamic Defence),<ref name="Farrokh 03" />{{page needed|date=September 2020}} and announcing that all civilians had to take part in the war effort.

The government tried to integrate the Shias into the war effort by recruiting many as part of the Ba'ath Party. In an attempt to counterbalance the religious fervour of the Iranians and gain support from the devout masses, the regime also began to promote religion and, on the surface, [[Islamisation]], despite the fact that Iraq was run by a secular regime. Scenes of Saddam praying and making pilgrimages to shrines became common on state-run television. While Iraqi morale had been low throughout the war, the attack on al-Faw raised patriotic fervour, as the Iraqis feared invasion.<ref name=pollack04 />{{page needed|date=September 2020}}

Saddam also recruited volunteers from other Arab countries into the Republican Guard, and received much technical support from foreign nations as well. While Iraqi military power had been depleted in recent battles, through heavy foreign purchases and support, they were able to expand their military to much larger proportions by 1988.<ref name="Farrokh 03" />{{page needed|date=September 2020}}

At the same time, Saddam ordered the [[al-Anfal Campaign|al-Anfal campaign]] in an attempt to crush the Kurdish resistance, who were now allied with Iran. The result was the deaths of several hundred thousand Iraqi Kurds, and the destruction of villages, towns, and cities.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Rubin, Michael|title=Are Kurds a pariah minority?|journal=Social Research|date=Spring 2003|volume=70|issue=1|pages=295–330|publisher=The New School|series=Pariah Minorities|doi=10.1353/sor.2003.0028|jstor=40971614|s2cid=141846747}}</ref>

Iraq began to try to perfect its manoeuvre tactics. The Iraqis began to prioritise the professionalisation of their military. Prior to 1986, the [[conscription]]-based Iraqi regular army and the volunteer-based Iraqi Popular Army conducted the bulk of the operations in the war, to little effect. The Republican Guard, formerly an elite [[praetorian guard]], was expanded as a volunteer army and filled with Iraq's best generals. Loyalty to the state was no longer a primary requisite for joining. After the war, due to Saddam's paranoia, the former duties of the Republican Guard were transferred to a new unit, the [[Special Republican Guard]]. Full-scale war games against hypothetical Iranian positions were carried out in the western Iraqi desert against mock targets. They were repeated over the course of a full year until the forces involved fully memorised their attacks. Iraq built its military massively, eventually possessing the 4th largest in the world, in order to overwhelm the Iranians through sheer size.<ref name=pollack04 />{{page needed|date=September 2020}}