September 1980, Abadan, Iran – An Iraqi soldier watches as the Iranian Abadan refinery, located near the Iraqi border, burns. The Abadan oil refinery was under constant fire from the Iraqi air force during the Iran-Iraq conflict. (Henri Bureau/Sygma/Corbis)
Few events in the 20th century were as large and remain as poorly understood by outsiders as the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq. From 1980 to 1988 the two countries, which share hundreds of miles of border, fought with ever-escalating desperation and brutality, at a combined cost of 680,000 killed or missing. The events of that war continue to have a …read more
Source: Macleans
