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Civilians are often targets

Three years after Iraq launched its invasion of Iran, the war between those Persian Gulf neighbors continues to take an alarming toll of civilians. In the wake of a new Iranian offensive into Iraq's mountainous northwestern region, the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein launched Soviet-made FROG missiles at three Iranian cities in the southern province of Khuzistan. In addition, Iraq bombed several towns in northwestern Iran with Soviet-made fighters and bombers. Civilian casualties were estimated to be in the hundreds. Tehran also charged that Iraq had resorted to chemical warfare for the second time in a month, lobbing artillery shells filled with poison gas at Iranian troops. Thirteen people were said to have been killed and 40 others injured in that attack.

The Iranian offensive was aimed at reasserting Tehran's authority over its own territory, some of which has been under the control of rebellious Kurdish nationalists, as well as seizing strategic chunks of Iraqi Kurdistan. The Tehran government claimed last week that its forces had captured 270 sq. mi. of Iraqi territory in the bloody week-old thrust, including several mountain strongholds.

Baghdad admitted that it had used long-range missiles against Iranian cities, and an Iraqi military spokesman said the "crushing strikes" would continue as long as Iran persisted in its attacks. Iraqi officials also said they had launched floating mines in the Iranian port of Bandar-Khomeini in the western end of the gulf. They renewed their threat to destroy the huge Iranian oil terminal at Kharg Island if Iran continued its blockade of Iraq's oil exports through the gulf. In addition, Iraq warned Japan that a large petrochemical complex under construction by a Japanese firm at Bandar-Khomeini would be bombed. Iran, in turn, has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the West's oil supplies pass, if Iraq seriously disrupts Iran's oil exports.

The new Iraqi threats were clearly an attempt to keep the war high on the international diplomatic agenda in hopes that public pressure might bring the Iranians to the peace table. The Netherlands last week was lobbying for a cease-fire resolution, believed to have been drafted by France, to be put before the United Nations Security Council. To help placate Iran, the resolution also condemns Iraqi bombing of civilian targets in Iran. Yet the Iranians, who are angry at France for selling Iraq five Super Etendard fighter-bombers as well as Exocet air-to-surface missiles, were not impressed. Tehran still insists that the price of peace with Iraq is the ouster of the man who started the war, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.