View source for Religion:1991 uprising in Basra

{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=1991 uprising in Basra
|image = {{Location map many | Iraq
| AlternativeMap = Iraq physical map.svg
| relief   = yes
| width    = 300
| caption  =

| lat2_deg = 30.50
| lon2_deg = 47.81
| pos2 = below
| label2   = Basra
}}
|partof=1991 uprisings in Iraq
|date= 1 March – mid-April 1991
|place=[[Place:Basra|Basra]], Iraq
|result=Iraqi government victory
* Mass reprisals against civilians
|territory=Parts of Basra taken by rebels and then re-taken by the government
|combatant1={{flagcountry|Ba'athist Iraq}}
*Republican Guard
*Ba'ath Party-loyalist among other Iraqi security forces
|combatant2=[[Image:Flag of Jihad.svg|20px]] Shi'a rebels: <br>
*SCIRI & Badr
*Islamic Dawa Party
*Iraqi Hezbollah
*Iraqi Army deserters
|commander1=Ali Hassan al-Majid<ref name="Guardian 1">{{cite news|title=Fear at the end of the Basra road|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1991/may/18/iraq.edvulliamy|newspaper=The Guardian|date=18 May 1991|accessdate=21 October 2012}}</ref>
|commander2=Unknown
|strength1=6,000 Republic Guard<ref name="HRW p45">{{cite book |last1=Goldstein |first1=Eric |title=Endless Torment: The 1991 Uprising in Iraq and Its Aftermath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWVRzLncwIoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false |publisher=Human Rights Watch |location=350 Fifth Avenue 34th Floor, New York, N.Y. |isbn=1-56432-069-3 |page=45 |date= June 1992}}</ref>
|strength2=5,000 Army defectors<ref name="HRW p45"/>
|casualties1= 730+ killed<br />1,300+ wounded
|casualties2= 220+ killed 
}}
[[File:Iraq Basra Governorate.svg|thumb|The Basra area of Iraq]]
The '''1991 uprising in Basra''' was the scene of the beginning of the unrest in Iraq following the Gulf War. The uprising started after demoralized troops throughout Iraq began to rebel against Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime, in particular after a tank driver in Basra fired at a [[Social:Public|public]] portrait of Saddam Hussein. [[Place:Basra|Basra]] became a chaotic battlefield between military defectors and Iraqi Republican Guard, with most of the fighting taking place at close quarters. Most of [[Place:Basra|Basra]] had been retaken by mid March, but rebels in parts such as Tanuma managed to hold out until mid April. After Ba'athist forces had regained control, they engaged in a crackdown against civilians and suspected supporters of the uprising.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goldstein |first1=Eric |title=Endless Torment: The 1991 Uprising in Iraq and Its Aftermath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWVRzLncwIoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false |publisher=Human Rights Watch |location=350 Fifth Avenue 34th Floor, New York, N.Y. |isbn=1-56432-069-3 |page=48 |date= June 1992}}</ref>

== Uprising ==
=== 1 March ===
The turmoil began in [[Place:Basra|Basra]] on 1 March 1991, one day after the Gulf War ceasefire, when a [[Engineering:T-72|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.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/iraq501/events_uprising.html The Crimes of Saddam Hussein: Suppression of the 1991 Uprising], PBS ''Frontline'', 24 January 2006.</ref><ref name=bbc>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2888989.stm Flashback: the 1991 Iraqi revolt], BBC News, 21 August 2007.</ref>

=== 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goldstein |first1=Eric |title=Endless Torment: The 1991 Uprising in Iraq and Its Aftermath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWVRzLncwIoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false |publisher=Human Rights Watch |location=350 Fifth Avenue 34th Floor, New York, N.Y. |isbn=1-56432-069-3 |page=46 |date= June 1992}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.hrw.org/reports/1992/Iraq926.htm The 1991 Uprising in Iraq And Its Aftermath]


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[[Category:Shia Islam|Basra]]

{{Sourceattribution|1991 uprising in Basra|1}}