IRAN: ABADAN -- A CITY UNDER SIEGE SINCE THE GULF WAR BEGAN.

Record ID: 1050232

  • Title: IRAN: ABADAN -- A CITY UNDER SIEGE SINCE THE GULF WAR BEGAN.
  • Date: 17th December 1980
  • Summary: 1. GV PAN & CU Iranian soldiers walk through empty streets of Abadan. (2 SHOTS) 0.11 2. Tracking Shot past shell-damaged buildings. 0.27 3. CU PAN Wrecked ambulance. 0.35 4. GV & CU Distant smoke pours over buildings in outskirts of Abadan with man crouching in bunker. (3 SHOTS) 0.52 5. GV Pontoon bridge on Bahmanshir River with smoke pou
  • Embargoed: 31st December 1980 12:00
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  • Location: ABADAN & DISTRICT, IRAN
  • Country: Iran
  • Reuters ID: LVA2Q0V40KK4JCFT6ZYL82OA6PMH
  • Story Text:The Iranian still hold the city of Abadan after 12 weeks of attack by the Iraqi army. The island city is now besieged from three sides. Most of the artillery barrage comes from Iraqi territory on the far side of the Shatt Al-Arab Waterway, the frontier between eh two warring nations.

    SYNOPSIS: The Iranian forces in Abadan have fought off several full scale attacks. The island city was once the oil-refining capital of Iran. Now few streets are left unscarred by the constant pounding if Iraqi artillery. So, far the heart of the city has been damaged, but not destroyed, byu the bombardment. But every day a few more buildings are wrecked by falling shells. Two of Abadan's four hospitals have been badly damaged.

    An estimated 20,000 Iranians are still in the city despite the shelling. But more than 1,000 civilian residents of Abadan have been killed in the siege.

    Three weeks ago, Iraqi soldiers crossed the Bahmanshir River after breaking through the city's defence. In the two-day battle that followed, hundreds died. Eventually, the Iraqi invaders withdrew to the other side of the river. Foreign journalists have been on a four-day tour of the embattled province of Khuzestan, including Abadan.

    Many were impressed by the organisation and the new spirit of the Iranian military after three months of Iraqi attacks.

    This is Abadan's north-east front. As the Western newsmen arrived, the Iranian positions were again under attack. The defenders are a mixed force of Iranian soldiers and volunteers of Ayatollah Khomeini's Revolutionary Guard. Some observers reported a strong religious fervour among Iran's soldiers inspiring them in the fight against the surrounding Iraqi forces who heavily outnumber them.

    Treatment for a bad tooth, even in the midst of battle...it's been difficult to estimate the total casualty figures in the Gulf War. Both Iran and Iraq have claimed the upper hand.

    Shells exploded only a hundred meters (330 feet) from some of the visiting reporters and one of Iran's Revolutionary Guards was killed. The Iraqis now hold a line parallel to the Bahmanshir River. Most of their shell fire has been directed a Abadan's oil refinery, the largest 60 percent of Iran's domestic fuel requirement before the war.
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