| Battle of Basra (1991) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of1991 uprisings in Iraq | |||||||||
  Basra | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|  Army defectors | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Saddam Hussein | Abu Iman (POW) | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 6,000+ | 5,000 army deserters, unknown number of rebels associated withShia opposition | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | 3,848 captured | ||||||||
TheBattle of Basra was fought in the beginning of the1991 Iraqi uprisings following theGulf War. The battle started after demoralizedtroops throughoutIraq began to rebel againstSaddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime, in particular after a tank driver in Basra fired at apublic portrait ofSaddam Hussein.Basra became a chaotic battlefield between military defectors andRepublican Guard, with most of the fighting taking place at close quarters. Most ofBasra 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.[1]
The turmoil began inBasra on 1 March 1991, one day after the Gulf War ceasefire, when aT-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.[2][3]
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.[4]
