[custom_adv]
A series of purges and forced retirements resulted in the manpower of the service being halved between February 1979 and July 1980, leaving the IRIAF ill-prepared for the homeland–Iraq War (also called the “1st Persian Gulf War”). The sudden Iraqi air strikes against eight major persian airbases and four other military installations, launched on the afternoon of 22 September 1980, came as a complete surprise and caused a shock in the IRIAF.
