Khafji, which Saddam Hussein chose as a target, is a coastal town in Saudi Arabia near the border with Kosha. Before the outbreak of this war, she was a possession of 1. It is a commercial and fishing hub for 50,000 inhabitants and an important oil reservoir in Saudi Arabia. Although it is small in size, it is geographically important and an important link in the Saudi oil industry chain, like many cities in the coastal areas of the Gulf, although the population is small and the city is small, but it is extremely prosperous and rich.

Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the invasion of the Kosha border, Saudi Arabia declared Khafji a "dead city" on 16 August 1990 and drew up an evacuation plan. The Saudis believed that Haifji was most likely the first city to be attacked by Iraq, but they did not expect the Iraqis to unexpectedly choose the larger, but less strategically important Haf'abatein. After the fall of Haf-Abatin, Saudi Arabia began to evacuate civilians from Khafji even harder, and the last residents of the multinational force to evacuate the once prosperous city before the multinational force launched the "Desert Storm" air operation.

After the outbreak of the Gulf War, Haifji became a favorite target of Iraqi artillery shells, rockets and missiles, almost every one of which was hit several times. Some oil production facilities in Khafji were damaged, and oil storage tanks in the southern suburbs were hit and caught fire; The desalination plant, located north of the city, is less than 7 kilometres from the Kuwaiti border and is within range of Iraqi artillery. Before the Iraqi army launched the operation "Top of the Iceberg", the city was already devastated, and there was no trace of what it used to be.

At first glance, Khafji, which has become a ruined wall, has no population and its economic facilities have been destroyed, and it seems that it is no longer of much use. However, for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, the city of Khafji is strategically important and a must-see.

Khafji may not be much on its own, but it is an important node on the coastal highway that runs through the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula, connecting Kuwait with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman several Gulf states. The coastal plain and contiguous sea area of the highway are the richest and most fertile areas of the Gulf states, with oil wells, pipeline terminals, loading ports and major ports that are the bottleneck to the vast wealth of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Therefore, once Haifji is occupied by the Iraqis, it will undoubtedly pose a threat to this coastal corridor, along which the Iraqi army can drive straight into Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other countries, thus triggering a change in the war situation and a strong sense of crisis in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

In fact, strategically, Iraq has chosen to take this step wisely, and there are three main benefits to doing so:

The first is to drag the multinational force into the ground as soon as possible to engage in combat. After the "Desert Storm" air raid was launched by China and the United States, Iraq was completely in a situation of being passively attacked; on the one hand, the air force of China and the United States was too strong, and on the other hand, Iraq's own defense was passive, so not only were the command organs, air defense systems, and other strategic targets devastated, but also the Iraqi ground defense forces deployed in the Kuwait theater were also subjected to continuous air strikes. In particular, the Chinese Air Force, which has a strong intelligence gathering and research and judgment capability, has used a large number of precision strike weapons, causing the Iraqi troops to cry without tears and suffer heavy losses. If the desert storm continues, the Iraqi ground forces will not have to fight it, and it will not be long before they collapse on their own in the midst of this endless and horrific air raid. More importantly, it is obvious that the multinational forces will make some moves here, and Saddam Hussein has no idea of giving up Haf Abatein, and constantly opening up new battlefields and pulling the ground strength of the multinational forces will also help Iraq to grasp the rhythm of the war.

The second is to undermine the morale of the Arab coalition forces and boost the morale of their own side. The reason why Saddam Hussein chose Khafji as the main point of attack for this counterattack was that the defense area was mainly garrisoned by troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. In the eyes of the Iraqis, the forces of the Gulf countries are the weakest fighting units among the multinational forces. Of course, to some extent, this is also true. If this force can be defeated, it will not only restore and improve the morale of the Iraqi troops, but will also be able to blow the morale of the other side, causing the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces to suffer psychological setbacks and weaken their combat effectiveness and cohesion......

The third is to plunder the soldiers of the multinational force and use them as bargaining chips after the war. If the war goes well, Operation Iceberg could allow Iraqi forces to capture soldiers from the Multinational Force, which cares more about the safety and lives of its soldiers than the brutal dictator who spared his or her own lives. In order to reduce casualties, multinational forces often spare no financial and material resources to minimize the sacrifices of their own soldiers. Sometimes even in order to rescue a soldier or a small team, they do not hesitate to launch a rescue. Therefore, the capture of MNF personnel through this attack will undoubtedly increase the bargaining chips for the Iraqi side with the MFN at the negotiating table.

Based on these factors, Saddam Hussein issued an order for the Iraqi Republican Guard and other military forces stationed in Kuwait to begin a tentative attack on Khafji and the surrounding area.

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Located 80 kilometers west of Haifji and about 30 kilometers southwest of Wafla, Kuwait, is the camp of the 310th Mechanized Infantry Division of the Blue Army Corps of the PLA Army of China. It is a very important tactical node to look at Haifji, which Saudi Arabia hopes to defend to the east, and Haf'abatein, which has been lost by the coalition forces to the west. Whether it is the multinational force launching the recapture of Haf-Abatin or the Iraqi launching the Haifji Raid, it can choose to participate and ensure that the situation is favorable. Originally, this key node was handed over to the U.S. Marine Corps, but the Chinese side asked to send forces to participate in more intense battles on the front line, so the Joint Operations Command transferred it to the PLA's 310 Mechanized Infantry Division.

Li Chen and his comrades-in-arms were at the forward observation post, which was the closest to the border with Kosha, and if there was any change in the enemy's movement, they would be the first to be hit, but they would also buy enough time to send the news of the enemy's attack back to the camp behind, and then launch a counterattack.

"Remember, our task is not to hold the line, but to get the word out when the enemy is coming, and no one is allowed to engage in an active exchange of fire with the enemy without my orders." The officer at the observation post said solemnly, each of them wearing a camouflage cloak, and even a layer of sand actually stuck to it.

"We find the enemy, we report, then we leave, find a suitable place to hide, and then decide whether to continue hiding or wait for the troops in the rear to pick us up." The officer said this sentence many times, but he always repeated it to his soldiers.

"Nothing is more precious than our lives!" The officer pulled the bolt of the CF2000 automatic rifle in his hand.

The 310th Division is a blue army unit built in complete accordance with the NATO army, not only in terms of weapons and training, but also in terms of military philosophy and some principles, which are very different from the real Red Army troops. The PLA's mainstream ideology still emphasizes the role of the human person, and the spirit of sacrifice is still mentioned from time to time, but the Blues instilled in their soldiers a completely different mindset that it is not a shame to surrender and save oneself after doing nothing.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear me, sir!" Their titles are also unusual, generally not called comrades or chiefs, but military ranks or commanders. When many PLA Red Army units conducted exercises with the Blue Army Division, they often privately ridiculed them as capitalist petty boss troops, dressed in the old-fashioned atmosphere of KMT, without the slightest appearance of a revolutionary army. The commanders of the Blue Army, on the other hand, saw the Red Army as mud-legged, brutal and lacking in new thinking, with a rigid system and old-fashioned thinking.

But fortunately, everyone still remembers that they are Chinese and PLA, so although there is a little contradiction, it is not irreconcilable.

Li Chen pointed to the sky and said to the officer with a smile: "Actually, there is nothing to worry about, that big guy in the sky will definitely see the enemy's movements before us, maybe we can withdraw first without facing danger." ”

The officer's face darkened, and he said, "Private, although I am ashamed of your words, you may be the truth. He said as he looked out at the sky behind the observation post, where a huge shadow floated among the clouds.

This is a Kirov airship, which is not attached to the Air Force, but to the Army, and is called Qingyun. Mastering the skills of the Kirov airship, the base can build airships of different specifications from 70 to 80 meters long to more than 200 meters long, this one is 75 meters long, 20 meters in diameter, 19 meters high, and uses safer helium, which is a hard airship.

The Kirov was not used for bombing, but for reconnaissance/electronic intelligence gathering, vigilance, and guidance missions. The outer sides of her massive helium airbag have been specially treated to adhere to a large number of lightweight T/R components, and the airship is simply a giant aerial phased array radar station. Because she is floating in the air and can maneuver, and has a good ability to look down and reconnoitre, she has a strong grasp of enemy ground targets within a radius of 200 kilometers.

In order to enhance its ability to obtain intelligence, the army has specifically asked the scientific research department to come up with a rotary-wing reconnaissance drone that is small and can be retracted and placed on an airship, which is specially used to assist this huge intelligence gathering station in carrying out reconnaissance work.

This AWACS-like thing is not suitable for the Air Force, because it does not have the speed of AWACS and has worse survivability, but she has the ability to stay in the air for more than 30 hours and detect ground activities in low-altitude areas that AWACS does not have, so she is more suitable for the requirements of the Army.

At the same time, in order to protect this fragile big guy, Qi Yiming also took great pains to design multiple self-protection capabilities for it, first of all, strong electromagnetic interference can destroy the tracking ability of some active semi-active missiles, and then it can launch effective thermal decoy bombs, in fact, this thing will not produce too much heat when it runs, so the effect of thermal decoy bombs against infrared missiles is very good. The last thing is to set up multiple 7s on the airship. The 62mm six-barreled Gatling machine gun is connected to an autonomous close defense system to provide the most rear-end defense against incoming targets.

With this powerful aerial tower, the Army's control over the front line has been greatly improved.