Editing Iran–Iraq War (section)

====Tawakalna ala Allah operations====
On 25 May 1988, Iraq launched the first of five [[Tawakalna ala Allah Operations]],<ref name="Woods 2010" /> consisting of one of the largest artillery barrages in history, coupled with chemical weapons. The marshes had been dried by drought, allowing the Iraqis to use tanks to bypass Iranian field fortifications, expelling the Iranians from the border town of [[Shalamcheh]] after less than 10 hours of combat.<ref name=efraimkarsh />{{rp|11}}<ref name=brogan89 />{{rp|265|date=November 2012}}<ref name="csis10" />

[[File:TBO-4-POVs-17061988.jpg|thumb|Iranian soldiers captured during Iraq's 1988 offensives]]

On 25 June, Iraq launched the second Tawakal ala Allah operation against the Iranians on Majnoon Island. Iraqi commandos used [[amphibious craft]] to block the Iranian rear,<ref name="Farrokh 03" /> then used hundreds of tanks with massed conventional and chemical artillery barrages to recapture the island after 8 hours of combat.<ref name="Woods 2010" /><ref name="csis10" /> Saddam appeared live on Iraqi television to "lead" the charge against the Iranians.<ref name="csis10" /> The majority of the Iranian defenders were killed during the quick assault. The final two Tawakal ala Allah operations took place near al-Amarah and Khaneqan.<ref name="Woods 2010" /> By 12 July, the Iraqis had captured the city of [[Dehloran]], {{convert|30|km|mi|abbr=on}} inside Iran, along with 2,500 troops and much armour and materiel, which took four days to transport to Iraq. These losses included more than 570 of the 1,000 remaining Iranian tanks, over 430 armoured vehicles, 45 self-propelled artillery, 300 towed artillery pieces, and 320 antiaircraft guns. These figures only included what Iraq could actually put to use; total amount of captured materiel was higher. Since March, the Iraqis claimed to have captured 1,298 tanks, 155 infantry fighting vehicles, 512 heavy artillery pieces, 6,196 mortars, 5,550 recoilless rifles and light guns, 8,050-man-portable rocket launchers, 60,694 rifles, 322 pistols, 454 trucks, and 1,600 light vehicles.<ref name="csis10" /> The Iraqis withdrew from Dehloran soon after, claiming that they had "no desire to conquer Iranian territory". Historian [[Kaveh Farrokh]] considered this to be Iran's greatest military disaster during the war. Stephen Pelletier, a Journalist, Middle East expert, and author, noted that "Tawakal ala Allah ... resulted in the absolute destruction of Iran's military machine."<ref name="Farrokh 03" />

During the 1988 battles, the Iranians put up little resistance, having been worn out by nearly eight years of war.<ref name=brogan89 />{{rp|253|date=November 2012}} They lost large amounts of equipment.<ref name="Farrokh 03" /> On 2 July, Iran belatedly set up a joint central command which unified the Revolutionary Guard, Army, and Kurdish rebels, and dispelled the rivalry between the Army and the Revolutionary Guard. However, this came too late and, following the capture of 570 of their operable tanks and the destruction of hundreds more, Iran was believed to have fewer than 200 remaining operable tanks on the southern front, against thousands of Iraqi ones.<ref name="csis10" /> The only area where the Iranians were not suffering major defeats was in Kurdistan.<ref name="Dunn 1998" />