Al-Faw Peninsula - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Faw peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

is a marshy region adjoining the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

in the extreme south-east of Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, between and to the south-east of the cities of Basra

Basra

Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...

(Iraq) and Abadan (Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

).

It is the site of a number of important oil installations, most notably Iraq's two main oil tanker terminals: Khor Al-Amaya and Mina Al-Bakr. Its chief importance is its strategic location, controlling access to the Shatt al-Arab waterway (and thus access to the port of Basra).

The only significant town on the peninsula is Umm Qasr

Umm Qasr

Umm Qasr , is a port city in southern Iraq. It stands on the canalised Khawr az-Zubayr, part of the Khawr Abd Allah estuary which leads to the Persian Gulf. It is separated from the border of Kuwait by a small inlet...

, a fishing town and port which comprised Iraq's main naval

Navy

A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...

base under the regime of Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

. The peninsula is otherwise lightly inhabited with few civilian buildings other than a few fishermen's huts.

Iranian Occupation

During the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, al-Faw was bitterly contested due to its strategic location at the head of the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway, and was the site of many large-scale battles. In 1986, the Iranians capitalized on the weakness of the Iraqi defences located at the southernmost tip of the peninsula.

On February 11, 1986, the Iranians launched a surprise attack against the Iraqi troops defending al-Faw. The Iraqi units in charge of the defences consisted mostly of poorly-trained Iraqi Popular Army

Iraqi Popular Army

The Iraqi Popular Army also known as the People's Army or People's Militia was a paramilitary agency composed of civilian volunteers to protect the Ba'ath regime against internal opposition and to serve as a counter-balance against any coup attempt by the regular Iraqi Army.In 1987 the People's...

conscripts that collapsed when they were suddenly attacked by Iranian Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guard) forces.

It marked the first time that the Iranians had successfully invaded and occupied Iraqi territory. The Iranians defeated several Iraqi counteroffensives and managed to hang on to their foothold.

The occupation of al-Faw placed Basra at risk of being attacked. The Iranians also used the peninsula as a launch pad for Silkworm missile

Silkworm missile

The Shang Yo or SY-series , and the Hai Ying or HY-series were early Chinese anti-ship missiles. They were derived from the Soviet P-15 Termit missile.The HY-1 and HY-2 received the NATO reporting name Silkworm...

s which were deployed against shipping and oil terminals in the Persian Gulf, and also against Kuwait

Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

, which supported Iraq throughout the war.

On April 17, 1988, the newly-restructured Iraqi Army began a major operation named "Ramadan Mubarak" aimed to clear the Iranians out of the peninsula. The Iraqis concentrated well over 100,000 troops from the battled-hardened Iraqi Republican Guard

Iraqi Republican Guard

The Iraqi Republican Guard was a branch of the Iraqi military during the presidency of Saddam Hussein. It later became the Republican Guard Corps, and then the Republican Guard Forces Command with its expansion into two corps....

versus 15,000 second-rate Iranian Basij soldiers.

By employing the use of massive artillery barrages, air bombardments, and extensive amounts of chemical weapons, the Iraqis eventually expelled the Iranians from the peninsula within thirty-five hours, with much of their equipment captured intact. The event was marked as an official national holiday under the former regime of Saddam Hussein, celebrated as the Faw City Liberation Day.

British and American Occupation

The 1991 Gulf War

Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...

was fought to the south and west of al-Faw, but the peninsula's military installations were heavily bombed by Allied forces during the conflict. The Allied forces effectively closed down all of Iraq's shipping activities, thus rendering its access to the Shatt al-Arab and the Persian Gulf useless.

The peninsula was one of the first targets of the Coalition forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

, with British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

troops involved. Forces from the Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

, U.S. Marines and the Polish GROM

GROM

GROM is one of five special forces units of the Polish Armed Forces. It was officially activated on July 8, 1990...

staged a successful midnight amphibious assault

Battle of Al Faw (2003)

The Battle of Al Faw was one of the first battles of the Iraq War. One of the initial objectives of the Coalition campaign in Iraq was to capture the Gas and Oil Platforms in the Al-Faw Peninsula intact before it could be sabotaged or destroyed by the Iraqi military...

on the peninsula. All were attached to the British 3 Commando Brigade

3 Commando Brigade

3 Commando Brigade is a commando formation of the British Armed Forces and the main manoeuvre formation of the Royal Marines. Its personnel are predominantly Royal Marines, supported by units of Royal Engineers, Royal Artillery, The Rifles, and the Fleet Air Arm, together with other Commando...

. Their goal was to secure the port of Umm Qasr

Umm Qasr

to allow humanitarian goods to be shipped in, and to secure the key oil installations located in the area before they could be sabotaged by retreating Iraqi forces. The Mina Al-Bakr oil terminal was seized by SEAL teams

United States Navy SEALs

The United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command.The acronym is derived from their...

8 and 10; as well as U.S. Navy EOD

United States Navy EOD

United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians render safe all types of ordnance, including improvised, chemical, biological, and nuclear. They perform land and underwater location, identification, render-safe, and recovery of foreign and domestic ordnance...

personnel. The Khor Al-Amaya oil terminal was seized by GROM operators. The peninsula fell quickly with minimal Iraqi resistance, although unexpected fierce resistance in Umm Qasr required several days' fighting before the town was secured.

The British, based at Camp Driftwood, provided the security and counter-smuggling force on land with the US forces providing maritime assistance. Camp Driftwood was handed to Iraqi control in March 2007 by troops from 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment

Yorkshire Regiment

The Yorkshire Regiment is one of the largest infantry regiments of the British Army. The regiment is currently the only line infantry or rifles unit to represent a single geographical county in the new infantry structure, serving as the county regiment of Yorkshire covering the historical areas...

Iranian Occupation

British and American Occupation

See also