Operation Dawn 4 demonstrated Iran's ability to hold captured Iraqi territory despite Iraqi Republican Guard counterattacks and chemical weapons use.
Key Facts
- Operation start date
- 19 October 1983
- Territory captured
- ~250 square miles (650 km²)
- Iraqi unit defending
- Iraq's 1st Corps
- Iraqi counterattack force
- Iraqi Republican Guard
- Iranian allies
- Peshmerga (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan)
- Iraqi weapon used in counterattack
- Poison gas
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Units of Iraq's 1st Corps had been entrenched for two months anticipating an Iranian offensive along the northern front. Iran sought to apply pressure on the Penjwen area and coordinated with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan to expand its operational reach inside Iraqi territory.
Beginning on 19 October 1983, Iranian forces and Peshmerga guerrillas launched Operation Dawn 4, seizing approximately 250 square miles of Iraqi territory and exerting significant pressure on the town of Penjwen. Iraq's 1st Corps, despite its prepared defensive positions, was unable to repel the assault.
Iraq's Saddam Hussein ordered a counterattack using the Republican Guard and deployed poison gas against the entrenched Iranian and Kurdish forces. The counterattack failed to retake the lost ground, as Iranian troops reinforced by Kurdish fighters held their positions, leaving Iran in control of the captured territory at the operation's end.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Side B
1 belligerent