The city remained in Iraqi hands until April 1982, when the Iranians launched Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas to recapture the Khuzestan province. The first attack utilized approximately 70,000 Iranian army troops and Revolutionary Guards that succeeded in pushing the Iraqi forces out of the Ahvaz-Susangerd area while sustaining heavy casualties. The Iraqis withdrew back to Khorramshahr and, on 20 May, launched a heavy but unsuccessful counterattack against the Iranians who stood their ground no matter the cost. An all-out assault on Khorramshahr was then launched by Iran, which captured two Iraqi defense lines in the Pol-e No and Shalamcheh region. The Iranians gathered near the Shatt al-Arab waterway, surrounded the city and began a second siege. The Iranians finally recaptured the city on 24 May 1982 after two days of bitter fighting and heavy losses.
Aftermath
In re-taking the city, the Iranians captured approximately 19,000 soldiers from a demoralized Iraqi Army. On the other hand, Saddam Hussein was shocked and furious by the defeat in Khorramshahr and at the fact that the Iranians had pushed on despite sustaining heavy casualties. The Iranians had even been forced to commit their reserves in order to keep on driving back the Iraqis. Iranians had shown incredible determination. After the defeat at Khorramshahr, Saddam Hussein executed several of his top generals, such as the commander of the 9th Division. Calls for a ceasefire in the Iran–Iraq War were made three days after the liberation of Khorramshahr, and officials of both countries began discussing such a possibility. Iranians celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr every year. The Iranians have also named their indigenous air defense system3rd Khordad after the battle.
The Liberation of Khorramshahr had been the subject that get the attention of some war time city films such as the pasdaran Army Television Unit's recapturing Khorramshahr in 1983, Another Growth by Homayun Purmand in 1982, Forty witnesses and the second narrative: liberation of Khorramshahr by Kiumarth Monazzah. A popular sad Persian song, "Mammad Naboodi" by Gholam Koveitipoor is about Mohammad Jahanara, the Pasdaran commander who was one of the last few Iranians to leave Khorramshahr when it fell to the Iraqis. He would go on to fight in the Siege of Abadan and lead Iranian forces to recapture Khorramshahr, but he died on May 24, in a plane crash, before the eventual liberation of the city.
