Do you have a sufficient number of forces to achieve your goal Commander Zakeri points to a picture on the wall of NLA combatants astride a tank confiscated from the regime: "When we speak of the National Liberation Army, we are not speaking of a partisan group or a small military force. This is an army with extensive combat ability. NLA brigades have demonstrated that in the short period after their formation, they have gained the ability to launch a classic frontal assault along a 30 kilometer front against one of Khomeini's crack divisions. Today, the NLA carries out its offensives throughout the 1,200-kilometer Iran-Iraq border and possesses mechanized forces and heavy artillery. This is our present situation. At the same time, volunteers are streaming in every day, both from inside Iran and from the fronts; soldiers and officers desert Khomeini's military and ask to join the NLA.
"Meanwhile, the regime,,'s forces are weakening rapidly. The escalation
of NLA operations has effectively enhanced this trend of desertions from
the frontlines. Two files, for example, containing information on the personnel
of the 147th battalion of the 30th Gorgan division which fell into our hands
during an NLA operation reveal that the defeatist attitude vis-a-vis NLA
forces is rising sharply among Khomeini's forces. On just one page of these
files, 11 of the 38 names listed were marked AWOL. Five officers, 20 NCOs
and some 80 soldiers had de- serted from one company of the 23rd division.
"Whereas the number of prisoners taken during the initial NLA assaults in early 1987 did not exceed an average of 10, in November more than 500 of Khomeini's forces surrendered to the NLA in a week. In the `Shining Sun' offensive 508 military personnel, including two majors and severl other officers surrendered to NLA forces.
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