Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 8, 1987

Mahdi did not wake me up. At a quarter to five in the morning, I woke up with the alarm of the guards. They said they were ready to go. I immediately got up, prayed, put on Basiji clothes and we left at five o'clock. Messrs. [Hasan] Rouhani, [Mustafa] Torabi and [Ibrahim] Sanjaghi also came. We went all the way to Arak. We had breakfast in the desert, next to a water well and a farm. The guards had taken honey and hair from Qom. The weather was also cold. From there we went all the way to the south of Malawi, we stayed by the river and a farm. We prayed the noon prayer and ate the lunch, which was made from chalukbab leaves. We moved towards Khuzestan and arrived near evening.

We stayed the night in Ahvaz in a forest. Lettuce dinner was served and we rested. Then I went to Khatam Ik Ba'ath camp. The army commanders were supposed to come there at eight o'clock. They informed that because this evening, the enemy has taken back part of the occupations of last night, it is necessary to stay in the headquarters and lead the attack to take back the occupation line of last night, they cannot come.

We decided to move forward. After dinner, we moved to Shalamche area. The lightning of artillery and beacons and the sound of explosions announced the intensity of the war. At ten o'clock at night, we arrived at the camp of Imam Ali (AS), the commanders of the camps and Mr. [Ali] Shamkhani, [Yahi Rahim] Safavi, and [Mohammed] Bagheri [Afshardi in charge of intelligence of the IRGC Ground Forces] and... were there. They gave a full report on the operations of the last few days of Karbala 8.

Although we managed to take a strong step forward in the first hour of the attack, the enemy is fighting hard to take it back, and so far two or three times, a part of the line has been recaptured, and from that hour when we were present in the camp, the 27th army of Rasoolullah (pbuh), Najaf Ashraf and Ali bin Abi Talib (a) who are among our strong armies, entered the battle to complete the line and take back the lost points. By two o'clock in the morning when we were there, almost all the targets had been taken. A few cannonballs landed on our camp, but did not cause significant damage.

A number of units are supposed to go to the north to participate in the operation. The commanders generally believed that the operation that Hamza camp in the northwest and Ramadan is going to do, with the strength in their hands, will not be a complete victory and will only take some of the objectives, but the optimism of Ramadan camp is high. We arrived in Ahvaz at half past three in the morning and slept in the golf course.