Operation Mersad was the name given by the Iranian government, taken from the Persian word meaning 'ambush' was the last major military operation of the war, ending in a decisive victory for Iran. The operation involved a successful counterattack against a July 1988 military incursion from Iraq, by the bulk of the Iraqi army in the south west, and a military force of about 7000 members of the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK). The MEK soldiers were armed, equipped and given air support by Iraq and other foreign states. Led by Lt. General Ali Sayad Shirazi, Operation Mersad began on 26 July 1988 and lasted only a few days, where the Iranian Armed Forces crushed the Iraqi Army and MEK in what was the last military operation of any significance of the Iran-Iraq War.
