Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – January 11, 1987

Mr. Sanjaghi woke me up at two in the morning and said that we need more planes to transport the wounded. We woke up Dr. Rouhani. It was negotiated. Because the weather at Ahvaz airport is not favorable, we decided to take them to Omidiyeh and transfer them from there.

After morning prayer and bath, I got the front report from Mr. Rezaei. He was satisfied and happy and informed that the enemy's patrols have started in several axes with fresh forces of the Special Guard. The red status and the alarm sounded regularly. Iraq has started attacking the cities and continues to expand. We do the same.

Around noon, Mr. Rezaei informed that the enemy's camp had been repulsed and that we had good successes in the southern axis where we are advancing towards Bowarin Island. He praised the two-day delay of the army's operation. I told the prime minister on the phone in the meeting of the government board to give credit to the IRGC and I told him about last night's successes.

Ahmad Agha also asked about the war situation on the phone and got an answer. He informed that Ayatollah Montazeri wrote a letter to the Imam and expressed his concern about the possible exile of Asidhadi and said that since they will not have help, if he is going to be exiled, then they should be allowed to be isolated.

It was reported that this morning the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were able to fire a Scud-B missile at Baghdad. We were happy, because the Libyan officials have recently refused to cooperate and it was not clear that we could act on our own. Especially when the news agencies reported that the explosion was heard in Baghdad, there was complete certainty. This success of our forces in setting up the missile site is an important victory.

In the afternoon, we got more information about the success in the southern axis of Shalamcheh and the conflict in its western front. We went out of Ahvaz for recreation. We ate lettuce and I tested my gun. In the first night, we decided on the location of the Haq missile site. I talked to Mr. [Ayatollah] Khamenei on the phone about the air force commander.

This evening, Iraq also fired rockets at Bakhtran and Ilam. It is a sign of weakness and desperation. I called Mr. Rezaei at the end of the night. It turned out that the forces have started to advance in Karbala operational area from several axes and we talked about the continuation of the operation and the future operations of the army.

I spoke modestly on the phone at home. He said that people are very happy about the victories and said that it was reported that I was chemically injured. I said it was a lie. The news of Mehdi being chemically injured in the past operation has also come out in this way. I got the statistics of martyrs and wounded. By nine o'clock in the morning, we have had 931 martyrs and 6010 wounded.