Khusistan

Bull Capital, Apadana Hall, Susa, Louvre

Khusistan ( Persian خوزستان, DMG Ḫūzestān , from altpers. [h] Ūvjiya), also Persian- Arabic عربستان, DMG 'Arabistān , is a historical landscape, the core area of which today is the Iranian province of Chuzestan with the capital Ahvaz .

The historical Chusian area extends from the Zāgros Mountains in Iran to the east bank of the Tigris in today's Iraq . In the south it extends to the area around Shiraz and in the north to the Iranian province of Ilam . The current population of Chusistan belongs predominantly to the Shiite religion of Islam and speaks Arabic and various Persian dialects (such as Bakhtiar and Lurian ).

In the southern Iranian lowlands between the Zāgros Mountains and the Persian Gulf , desert-like steppes predominate today, and larger swamps along the Karun , Karche ( Kercha ) and Schatt al-Arab rivers . Because of its abundant oil and natural gas deposits, Khusistan has once again become a region of global economic and geopolitical importance in the mid-20th century.

history

Antiquity to the 20th century

In the times of the Elamites , Babylonians and Medes , Chusistan was developed through highly developed irrigation systems and was considered a granary of Mesopotamia and Persia until the Arabization in the 7th century . In 639, Abu Mūsā al-Ashʿarī invaded this area and conquered it for Islam. In the Middle Elamite period the most important cities in Chusistan were Susa (Šušan), Tschoga Zanbil (Al Untasch-Napiriša) and Haft Tepe (perhaps Kabnak). Under Shapur II , many prisoners of war were brought to Chusistan, as a dynamic textile industry prevailed there and should be further stimulated.

Younger story

In 1924 Chaz'al al-Ka'bi rebelled unsuccessfully against the Iranian central government in Tehran. In 1979, after the Islamic revolution , the Arabs in Khusistan revolted again. They were supported by the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein . Among other things, the Democratic Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of Arabistan was involved in this unsuccessful uprising. This organization also confessed to the hostage-taking in the Iranian embassy in London in 1980 , in which an Iranian embassy employee was murdered.

From 1980 to 1988, the Iranian Khusistan was the target of an Iraqi war of conquest . In this war, which had been started by Iraq, Iraq recorded territorial gains until 1982 (almost exclusively in Khusistan). The city of Susangerd could be captured and the Iraqi troops almost reached the city limits of Ahvaz and Dezful . On January 11, 1981 the area around Susangerd was the scene of the tank battle of Susangerd , the largest tank battle to date after the Yom Kippur War , 1973. A little later, on March 19, 1981, the battle of Dezful took place in Dezful . Other battles on Khusistan's soil were: the siege of Abadan , the battle of Khorramshahr (conquest by Iraq), the liberation of Khorramshahr by Iran, the battle of Dezful.