It may have been rushed ahead to intimidate the Islamic Summit Conference meeting in then Iraqi ally Kuwait.

[12] Iran's strategy was to penetrate through these massive defensive lines, and encircle Basra, cutting off the city as well as the Al-Faw peninsula from the rest of Iraq.

[4] The operation began during Christmas night of 1986 with elite frogmen of the Pasdaran crossing the lake in rubber speedboats to launch a surprise attack upon Umm ar-Rasas Island.

Iraqi machine gunners opened up with a hail of bullets, killing all but a few of the Iranian force.

The following morning, 60,000 Pasdaran and Basijis crossed the Shatt al-Arab north and south of Khorramshahr in dinghies and motorized seacraft, using the cover of dawn to hide their movements.

However the Iranians managed to overrun parts of Umm ar-Rasas and other islands, and they crossed them using pontoon bridges.

A major inadequacy in Iranian military preparations for the offensive was the practically non-existent follow up support provided to their forces once they broke out from the islands.

With the exception of limited artillery support, all of it remained on the Iranian side of the Shatt al-Arab and did not follow with the initial advance of their own forces.

Iraqi troops used artillery, aircraft, and machine guns firing from prepared defenses.

The Iranians (with the exception of the night attack and the amphibious crossings) did not use their innovative tactics and mainly used human waves.

Of my company, myself and Ali Khanlou, and of the total unit of 500 people, only 17 survived but were severely injured and disabled, the rest of the comrades were exhausted during these 4 hours.

[9]On May 18, 2015, bodies of 175 Iranian divers who were reportedly buried alive with their hands tied returned to Iran.