Throughout the day, government forces and Arab League fighter jets bombarded rebels near Semavo.

According to the battle report released afterwards, the fighters of the Arab coalition forces flew 458 sorties in more than 10 hours during the day, dropping more than 2,000 tons of bombs.

It was the most intense day since the start of the war.

The main force was 40 F-15SAs deployed in King Khalid Military City, which flew 72 sorties that day, almost to the level of an average of two.

Just these F-15SAs dropped more than 600 tons of bombs on the rebels.

Because it is a battlefield interdiction mission and the target distribution is relatively concentrated, most of the F-15SA take off with full loads, and mainly use iron-hulled bombs.

On the same day, the coalition forces of the Arab League also suffered considerable losses.

In addition to the Emirati F-16E, the Saudi Air Force also lost a Tornado IDS in the morning.

The fighter jet was shot down by anti-aircraft guns while bombing an airfield outside Najaf, wounded to be precise, and crashed on its way back to King Khalid Military City.

Fortunately, the crash site was in Saudi Arabia, and both pilots managed to parachute.

In the afternoon of the same day, a Kuwaiti F/A-18C crashed north of Semawah, killing the pilot.

Although the rebels claimed to have shot down the fighter, it is likely that the F/A-18C crashed due to a malfunction.

The point is that the F/A-18C flew at an altitude of more than 6,000 meters, and before the crash, the pilots did not report being attacked by anti-aircraft missiles.

In the evening, the Arab League suffered the last loss of the day.

It was also a Kuwaiti F/A-18C fighter jet that rushed off the runway during landing, crashed into the airfield protective net, and was almost completely damaged, but the pilot was fine.

Comparatively, the losses of the government air force were even more severe.

In the morning alone, three F-16Cs were lost.

It's just that only one was shot down by a rebel anti-aircraft missile over Semavo, or an individual anti-aircraft missile with an altitude of less than 4,000 meters!

Because the pilot died, no one knows exactly what happened.

It is only certain that at the time of the attack by anti-aircraft missiles, this F-16C flew at an altitude of less than 2000 meters and at a speed of less than 500 knots.

The other two F-16Cs both crashed in the southern region of Iraq.

In addition, a JF-17 was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile northwest of Semavo.

It was also the first JF-17 to be shot down.

At that time, the JF-17 was looking for a bombing target, and immediately after being locked on by an anti-aircraft radar, it was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile.

Because it came so suddenly, the pilot didn't react at all, and he didn't even eject in time to escape.

It's just that it was definitely not an individual anti-aircraft missile that shot down this JF-17.

In fact, this also proves that the rebels must have an anti-aircraft missile in their hands that shoots at an altitude of more than 6,000 meters, and it is deployed near Semavo.

By the afternoon, four more A-5PGs were damaged.

All four A-5PGs were hit by anti-aircraft guns during close support missions near Semavo, and all flew back to Nasiriyah.

One crashed before landing, and three successfully landed, but all were scrapped due to severe damage.

Fortunately, the pilots of all four A-5PGs survived, and only the pilot of the crashed one was slightly injured during the ejection jump.

The greatest losses of the government air force on the day were seven Mi-17 helicopters shot down by the rebels in the east of Semavo.

The helicopters, which had taken off from Basra and had been sent to pick up the generals, were ambushed by the rebels as they flew east of Samawah.

More than thirty crew members were not spared!

Although the damage was enormous, the effect of the bombing was also very significant.

Under the heavy bombardment, the rebels launched almost no decent offensive during the day, except for the early morning one, when there was no large-scale artillery bombardment.

No matter how much the rebels can fight, they can't withstand the wanton and indiscriminate bombardment.

However, after nightfall, the rebels became active.

Not only is it easy to accidentally injure friendly troops at night, but also the high-intensity sorties during the day have allowed most of the fighters of the government army and the Arab League to reach the maximum sortie, and they must carry out necessary maintenance, and several accidents during the day have proved that the condition of most fighters is not ideal.

It was also in the evening that the battle began in the direction of Amamara.

According to the original plan, the government army will send four brigades to advance towards Amarah and then move north to sweep the border with Iran.

Although the plan to attack Amarah was cancelled after the rebel raid, two brigades had already arrived in Ghurnai and reconnaissance units had been dispatched in the direction of Amarah, i.e., to seize the towns along the route in advance in preparation for the subsequent attack on Amarah.

At that time, the vanguard of government forces had advanced to the vicinity of Fort Saleh.

The advance was so fast only because no rebels were encountered.

Obviously, it cannot be assumed from this that there are no rebels in this direction.

You know, Amarah is an important border town, and there is a road to Iran in the northeast, and this road leads all the way to Ahvaz.

During the Battle of Nasiriyah, government forces abandoned Amara on their own initiative.

At that time, because no one believed that the government army could hold Nasiriyah and had to shrink the defensive line, it had to abandon Amamarah.

Subsequently, the rebels occupied Amaranah.

Because this was not the main direction of attack, the rebels did not move south from Amarah, but sent troops to take control of several towns south of Amarah.

It was for this reason that the government forces decided that there were not many rebels in Amarah, and therefore did not commit many troops here.

Four brigades, apparently, are enough, even if there is only one mechanized infantry brigade, and this brigade has only one barely up to par with the armored battalion.

Fortunately, Amara was a feint.

After the raid on Semavo, the main forces of government forces in this direction remained in Shenawa, and a brigade was subsequently withdrawn from Ghurnai.

That is, before the rebels attacked, only one brigade was stationed in Gurnai, and the other three brigades were in Chenawa, twenty kilometers to the south.

The main forces were deployed in the rear, saving government troops in this direction.

It's just that there are not many rebels from Ama, even if they are not the main force, they are certainly not second-rate troops, at least the vanguard has strong combat effectiveness.

The question is, where did the rebels get so many troops?

You know, counting those units that are moving towards the north, there are more than 20 brigades of rebels on the battlefield!

What is this concept?

Before the outbreak of the civil war, the main forces of the Iraqi Defense Forces did not have a total of 20 brigades.

Even with Iran's support, the rebels would not have been able to arm such a large number of main forces in such a short period of time, because they would not have been able to complete their training.

The rebels moved south from Amara and the situation was critical.

It is important to know that between Amara and Basra, the government forces have only one line of defense, the Gurnai-Shenawa line.

Breaking through this line of defense, the rebels will march straight into the city within a few days.

All the troops were sent out, and what did the Razak regime take to guard Basra? 210