{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"","title":"Iran-Iraq War - Part 2: The spark that set the border ablaze","description":"Dawn broke over the border, but peace didn’t come with it. Instead, the sky filled with the roar of jet engines and the thunder of bombs. In an instant, everything changed.\r\n\r\nThe silence that once hovered over the Iran-Iraq border shattered on September twenty-second, nineteen eighty. Iraqi MiG and Mirage jets screamed overhead, sunlight flashing on their wings as they dropped payloads on Iranian airbases from Mehrabad to Ahvaz. Runways cracked. Hangars collapsed in plumes of dust. Black smoke rose, blotting out the morning sun. But the bombing was rushed and incomplete. Many Iranian planes survived, hidden in reinforced shelters or missed in the chaos. On the ground, chaos reigned. The air stank of burning jet fuel and twisted metal. Then, before anyone could catch their breath, the next wave hit. Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles rumbled across the plains and marshes, their tracks tearing up the earth. Villages shook as columns advanced, dust clouds rising behind them. Artillery thundered. Shells burst over border positions. In Khorramshahr, the world changed in hours. Gunfire rattled through the streets. Glass shattered. Flames licked at homes as stray bullets sparked fires. Iraqi soldiers moved house to house, rifles ready, meeting fierce resistance from young Iranian defenders—many barely older than boys. The smell of cordite and burning oil filled the air. Fear and adrenaline collided in every heartbeat.\r\n\r\nLearn more at: https://theconflictarchive.com/conflict/iran-iraq-war","author_name":"The Archive Network"}