Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 13, 1988

After the morning prayer, Mr. Sanjaghi informed that almost all the units have advanced. We have captured two-thirds of the pentagon, and the 27th division of Hazrat Rasool (PBUH) has reached the Mahi channel and the advance continues. I got Farsi radios, Voice of America and BBC; It was not an important issue.

In the French elections, the socialists have not been able to achieve the majority they wanted and naturally they cannot have a unified and strong government.

At 7:30 in the morning, Mr. Sanjaghi informed that we have taken the entire pentagon and about 1,500 Iraqi prisoners have been taken who have not yet been brought to the rear of the front. The enemy is getting ready to attack and has started aerial bombardment and has ordered that the Doiji creek, where our operations are to be continued, is to be heavily guarded.

We were informed regularly from the front line. The progress is stopped and the enemy's readiness increases. It is heated and our warriors do not have enough mobility under that hot sun. The enemy is also struggling, but they show more endurance than our young Basijians.

Mr. Mortezai came. He talked about the new initiative in non-operating bridge trap defense and consulted on other issues of military research. In the afternoon, news gradually arrived that the enemy had penetrated through the pentagon, and that the enemy's far and near precautions had also entered the head of the cow. Enemy artillery is not very active. His organization is broken. The prisoners said that they had planned to attack Zayd and Jazeera, and sometimes there was news of the encirclement of the enemy, and sometimes there was news of a part of our forces being cut off. In the evening, it was reported that we were behind the Iraqi fortress in the east of the pentagon. There are more than 1000 enemy prisoners and many dead and wounded.

In the evening, Mr. Ali Shamkhani and Mohammad Bagheri and Gholam Ali Rashid and Mohammadzadeh came. They provided a description of the operation and a summary of the work. They claim that the intensity of heat has reduced the resistance of our forces, but it does not seem to be a sufficient reason. Perhaps the most important factor is the readiness of the enemy to carry out a maneuver that has been practiced many times and has been carried out in a certain manner in past operations and has repeated the same today and this risk [Mr. Qassem Soleimani] [commander of the 41st Army of Tharallah in the consultation discussion before the operation] Beit al-Maqdis 7] said.

A little bit of our force had an effect on the will of the commanders. At the end of the night, they informed us that we have retreated from the fort, and in general, the conclusions are that after the destruction of the Iraqis, the operation was successful and there is no captured land left.