- This article is about the Iraqi peninsula. See also the Al-Fao artillery system.
Al-Faw (also transliterated as al-Fao or al-Fawr) is a marshy peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf in the extreme south-east of Iraq, between and to the south-east of the cities of Basra (Iraq) and Abadan (Iran). It is the site of a number of important oil installations, most notably Iraq's two main oil tanker terminals: Khor Al-Amaya and Mina Al-Bakr. Its chief importance is its strategic location, controlling access to the Shatt al-Arab waterway (and thus access to the port of Basra). The only significant town on the peninsula is Umm Qasr, a fishing town and port which comprised Iraq's main naval base under the regime of Saddam Hussein. The peninsula is otherwise lightly inhabited with few civilian buildings other than a few fishermen's huts.
During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, al-Faw was bitterly contested due to its strategic location on the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway, and was the sight of many large-scale battles. The Iranians successfully captured it in February 1987 during a daring attack that caught the Iraqi defenses off guard. The capture of the al-Faw penninsula marked the first successful occuption of Iraqi territory for the Iranian forces. It also placed Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, at risk of being attacked and possibly taken. al-Faw was a launchpad for Silkworm missiles which the Iranians deployed against shipping and oil terminals in the Persian Gulf. They were expelled from the peninsula in April 1988 following a successful Iraqi offensive. It has been reported that the Iraqis employed the use of chemical weapons to achieve this goal.
The 1991 Gulf War was fought to the south and west of al-Faw, but the peninsula's military installations were heavily bombed by Allied forces during the conflict.
The peninsula was one of the first targets of the Allied forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with British troops principally involved. Forces from the Royal Marines 40 Commando staged a successful midnight amphibious assault on the penninsula. Their goal was to secure the key oil installations located in the area before they could be subjected to sabotage by retreating Iraqi forces. It fell quickly with minimal Iraqi resistance, although unexpectedly fierce resistance in Umm Qasr required several days' fighting before the town was secured.
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