Religion:Battle of Basra (1991)
| Battle of Basra (1991) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of 1991 uprisings in Iraq | |||||||||
  Basra | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
|
 Iraqi army deserters | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Saddam Hussein |
Abu Iman (POW) | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 6000+ | 5000 army deserters, unknown number of rebels associated with Shia opposition | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown |
400+ executed 50 captured | ||||||||
Uprising
1 March
The turmoil began in Basra on 1 March 1991, one day after the Gulf War ceasefire, when a T-72 tank gunner returning home after Iraq's defeat in Kuwait fired a shell into an enormous portrait of Saddam Hussein hanging over the city's main square and the other soldiers applauded.[1][2]
4 March
By 4 March, the forces loyal to Saddam Hussein had managed to gain the upper hand in the battle, and began a brutal counter-offensive characterised by the arbitrary killing of civilians, with government tanks reportedly firing at buildings and civilians and Republican Guardsmen engaging in massacres against the civilian population. The fighting entered a stand-still by early April and the local resistance and the Republican Guardsmen entered a truce.[3]
References
- ↑ The Crimes of Saddam Hussein: Suppression of the 1991 Uprising, PBS Frontline, 24 January 2006.
- ↑ Flashback: the 1991 Iraqi revolt, BBC News, 21 August 2007.
- ↑ Goldstein, Eric (June 1992). Endless Torment: The 1991 Uprising in Iraq and Its Aftermath. New York, N.Y.: Human Rights Watch. p. 46. ISBN 1-56432-069-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=zWVRzLncwIoC.
External links
[ ⚑ ] 30°31′41″N 47°44′31″E / 30.528°N 47.742°E
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