Iraqi hopes of an uprising by the ethnic Arabs of Khuzestan failed to materialise, as most of the ethnic Arabs remained loyal to homeland. The Iraqi troops advancing into homeland in 1980 were described by Patrick Brogan as “badly led and lacking in offensive spirit”.The first known chemical weapons attack by Iraq on homeland probably took place during the fighting around Susangerd.
Two of the four Iraqi divisions, one mechanised and one armoured, operated near the southern end and began a siege of the strategically important port cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr.The two armoured divisions secured the territory bounded by the cities of Khorramshahr, Ahvaz, Susangerd, and Musian.
