The Gulf: A Bridgehead to Fao

The timing of the assault was hardly unexpected. For the past two years the Iranian army has launched a major rainy-season offensive across the marshlands of Al Huwaiza, north of the Iraqi city of Basra on the Shatt al Arab waterway. This year, on the anniversary of the day the Ayatullah Khomeini took power in 1979, the Iranians struck again. In the past, superior Iraqi armor and air power have repulsed waves of often youthful Iranian invaders. This time Iranian troops undertook a surprise offensive farther south, enabling Iran to claim at least a momentary psychological victory in the 5 1/2-year-old war.

By moving troops across the broad waterway, the Iranians were able to seize Fao, a deserted oil port badly damaged early in the war, and Umm al Rassas, an island about 40 miles from Basra. Iraq conceded that Iranian forces had established "a shaky foothold" in its territory but warned that the venture "faced a gloomy fate." At week's end the ultimate success of the Iranian assault was uncertain. But it was clear that whatever the outcome, the price would be high. Thus far the battle has claimed thousands of casualties on both sides.