VOL. XXX

NO. 15

19-JANUARY-1987

The Middle East Situation

The upsurge in hostilities in the Iraq-Iran conflict has kept attentionfirmly focused on the Gulf. Though fighting was still going on, the Iranians hadapparently succeeded in establishing and reinforcing a small foothold insideIraq on the southern front east of Basrah, but had made little headway with asmaller-scale secondary thrust on the central front. The overall picture of astalemate in the war does not appear to have been altered....