Chapter Thirteen Entering Basra

  It has been nearly eight years since the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War (also known as the Fourth Middle East War), and the outcome of this war was that the Arab states caught up with Israel, reversing their previous consecutive defeats, restoring strategic balance between the two sides.

  Through the mediation of the United Nations, Egyptian President Sadat took the initiative to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, ending the confrontation between the two sides. According to the protocol of land for peace, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.

  This time the Babylon operation was supposed to be the last major action of the Sinai airbase, originally intended to end perfectly, but unexpectedly suffered a crushing defeat.

  Iraq and Israel do not share a border, nor was there a declaration of war beforehand. This is how they snuck into someone else's territory, dropped a few bombs, destroyed the nuclear reactor that posed a huge threat to them, and if successful, although they would face criticism from various countries afterwards, the deed would already be done, and Israel would still be Israel - this is the style of a great power.

  But now that it's failed, everything is different. The wreckage of the plane has been found and even a pilot was caught, so there's no way to deny it anymore.

  Israel was immediately pushed to the forefront of public opinion.

  Wanted to make a surprise attack on the nuclear reactor, but ended up with a fiasco, and the Israeli Air Force became a laughing stock for the whole world.

  Even technicians from General Dynamics (the manufacturer of the F-16) have publicly stated that while the F-16 is an excellent fighter, attempting such a long-range attack would be beyond its performance capabilities.

  At the same time, invading a sovereign state's airspace is an act of naked aggression. This time, even the largest backstage boss, the United States, cannot pretend to be unaware. To coordinate with public opinion, the US Congress issued a strongly worded condemnation report, terminating all technical assistance to the Israeli Air Force, including the second batch of F-16 fighter jets ordered by Israel, which were indefinitely postponed for delivery.

  These Israelis are not afraid because the Jewish forces in the US will soon be mobilized and it won't take long for this sanctions to become a waste of paper.

  However, Israel still had to give the world an explanation, so Israeli Air Force Commander Efrat took all the blame and resigned voluntarily, taking responsibility for this incident.

  In Israel, voices against Prime Minister Begin are also growing louder. The mastermind behind this operation was indeed Begin, who kept it secret and only a few people knew about it. This inadvertently offended many people, especially the right-wing Likud party.

  Beijing is having a tough time, but Mossad chief Hofi's days are even tougher.

  The report of the only survivor of the returned Chisel Squadron, ace pilot Yevgeny Yevtushenko, stated that the enemy had ambushed them during their last turn, checking landmarks over a small lake. How could they have known so clearly? There must be a traitor!

  Hofi sets Mossad in motion at full speed to find out who sold the intelligence about the Israeli Air Force's surprise attack to Iraq, an act of treason!

  He will never find the traitor because there is no traitor at all.

  Zhang Feng, who changed everything, is now on his way to Basra.

  Iraq's terrain is like a trumpet, narrow in the west and bordering Jordan, with Syria to the northwest and Saudi Arabia to the southwest. The northern border is shared with Turkey, while the long eastern border is shared with Iran. At this point, Iraq's military has occupied parts of Iranian territory in both north and south directions.

  Geographically, Iraq is divided into two parts: the southern military region with its base in Basra on the western side of the border, which is mainly responsible for attacking southern Iran. This force has crossed the Arvand River and captured Khorramshahr, and is currently besieging Abadan.

  The defense of Abadan can be said to be a turning point. The strategic declaration of Iraq's initial lightning war has completely failed. In Abadan, the morale of all troops was exhausted after more than a year of siege, while Iran's military adjustments have been announced and are about to enter a counterattack phase.

  From then on, the Iran–Iraq War continued and entered an eight-year phase of stalemate.

  History will be rewritten from here! If the counterattack in Abadan, Iran fails, and the Iraqi army captures Abadan and then takes Khorramshahr, the course of the war will be rewritten.

  Abadan is an important oil refining center in Iran, and the port of Khomeini is one of the most modern ports in Iran, located on a small island southwest of Musa Bay in the northwest of the Persian Gulf. To the north, there is a railway crossing the strait to Tehran and other inland areas. It is about 80 kilometers straight west of Abadan Port, and about 62 kilometers northeast of Mahshahr Oil Port. If this place is captured, Iraq's oil exports will no longer be restricted by the lack of ports, and with the support of Abadan's oil refining industry, Iraq's economy will enter a stage of rapid growth.

  Saddam's decision to send troops to Iran was probably also motivated by this reason, compared to Iran's long coastline: almost occupying half of the Persian Gulf, Iraq only has one outlet to the sea at Fao.

  The Faw Peninsula is located at the southern tip of Iraq, northern end of the Persian Gulf, near the mouth of the Arabian River, with an area of only 850 square kilometers. It is simply the throat of Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf. Once something goes wrong in Faw, Iraq will lose more than half of its oil export capacity.

  Al-Faw is also a center for Iraq's oil and petrochemical industry. Since the Iran–Iraq War, it has been frequently visited by Iranian aircraft.

  Whenever the air force is mentioned, Zhang Feng's heart feels a pang of regret. Iraq's military equipment mostly comes from the Soviet Union, and its air force is no exception. The mainstay of the air force, the MiG-21 and MiG-23, are all products of the Soviet Union. In an aerial battle with Iran's F-14, it would be a one-sided slaughter.

  The F-14 is the main equipment of the US Navy, the ultimate variable-sweep wing fighter, belonging to the third generation of fighters. Although the MiG-23 is also a variable-sweep wing fighter, its wings can only be manually maintained at several angles, while the F-14 is controlled by computer and can be adjusted at any position. This is also the thinking behind air force equipment in this era: during aerial combat, good low-speed maneuverability is required, with small sweepback angles for the wings, while high-speed flight requires large sweepback angles to minimize drag.

  However, the disadvantage of variable sweepback wings is the increase in structural weight. In later generations, excellent aerodynamic layouts can simplify the aircraft structure, so variable sweepback wings eventually fell out of favor with aircraft designers.

  But what made the F-14 even more powerful was its electronic equipment, the powerful AWG-9 radar.

  This radar can detect enemy fighters at a distance of 160 kilometers, and unlike the fire control radar of the MiG-25 which relies on increased power for detection, the AWG-9 radar excels in resolution, even able to distinguish and track low-flying targets from ground or sea clutter.

  Along with the range of over 100 kilometers of the Kh-55 missile, this is simply an invincible existence.

  So during the Iran-Iraq War, there was a time when Iraqis were on the ground and Iranians were in the air.

  This situation lasted until 1982 when Iraq introduced the French-made Mirage F1, equipped with advanced Matra R-530F missiles, giving the Iraqi Air Force a fighter capable of countering Iran's US-made F-14.

  The tactics of the two air forces were also different. Under the training of rigid Soviet instructors, the Iraqi Air Force was accustomed to fighting under the guidance of ground radar, and it was fundamentally incomparable with the tough style of the Iranian Air Force trained in the United States.

  So, after entering the Southern Military Region, we should first think about the air defense problem of our troops.

  Without air superiority, it is impossible to win a modern high-tech war. This is a bloody lesson learned from the Gulf War, where Iraq's army was defeated in front of multinational forces' air strikes.

  Of course, all this is useless for now, the most urgent thing at present is to enable the field troops to have air defense capabilities.

  Teach this dogmatic and rigid army how to fight modern warfare, that was Zhang Feng's initial idea.

  With this mood, Zhang Feng entered Basra through Highway 6.

  Basra is the capital of Basra Province, located on the west bank of the Arabian River at the outlet of Lake Hammar, 120 km from the Persian Gulf. For convenience, a man-made waterway was dug to connect directly to the Persian Gulf, which can dock several ocean-going ships.

  Basra is divided into three parts: Ashar, Basra, and Ma'qil. The Ashar district is the location of the government buildings and the city's financial and commercial center; the Basra district is concentrated with schools, hospitals, and residential areas, as well as many mosques; the Ma'qil district is the transportation hub and gateway to the outside world, with an airport, seaport, and railway station.

  The once picturesque town of Basra has a long history dating back to early civilization and now is an industrialized city in Iraq.

  Last year, Iraq's first steel mill was established in Basra, the second-largest city in Iraq after Baghdad.

  Basra was exposed to the Iranian shelling of Abadan, along with the military port of Umm Qasr and numerous oil facilities on the Faw Peninsula during the Iran-Iraq War. However, Basra city itself suffered relatively little damage from the war due to its large Shia population, as Khomeini sought to export his Islamic Revolution to Iraq's Shia Muslims.

  Following Zhang Feng to Basra, there were also Waleed and Gassar. That dazzling Ferrari sports car was not brought by Zhang Feng, but instead chose the inconspicuous Beijing Jeep.

  Zhang Feng already knew that now and then, Iranian planes would come to bomb the sky. If he drove a Ferrari, the pilots in the sky might know that he was a wealthy Iraqi. With just one sweep of the aircraft cannon, he would be blown into two pieces.

  Low-key, it's better to be low-key when interacting with others.

  Through the last battle, Zhang Feng knew that Walihe was a loyal and brave fighter, and he himself needed to have loyal subordinates, so he chose to dispatch Walihe to follow him to the Southern Military Region as his personal bodyguard.

  When Warikh learned that he was to be a bodyguard for Saddam Hussein's second son, he felt extremely proud. From the last battle, he also understood that this Qusay was a completely different person from Uday, not arrogant and tyrannical, but also very capable of fighting, and it was an honor to serve as his bodyguard.

  Ghasal, however, insisted on following him. He repeatedly begged Zhang Feng and had been entrusted by Zhang Feng's mother, Sajida Halala, to take good care of Zhang Feng's daily life. Wherever Zhang Feng went, he would follow.

  Helplessly, Zhang Feng had no choice but to drag this nanny along and arrived in Basra. However, there was a housekeeper, which was also the life he had once yearned for.

  A desert-yellow jeep entered Basra and headed towards the Southern Military District Command in Ashar district.