8th Najaf Ashraf Division

8th Najaf Ashraf Division
لشکر 8 نجف اشرف
Active	1981–present
Country	Iran
Branch	Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Type	Infantry, armored
Size	Division
Garrison/HQ	Isfahan Province, Najafabad county
Nickname(s)	"Najaf Ashraf" (نجف اشرف)
Engagements	Iran–Iraq War Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas Second Battle of Khorramshahr Operation Ramadan First Battle of al-Faw
Commanders
Current commander	Gen. Seif-o-allah Rashidzade
Notable commanders	Ahmad Kazemi Mehdi Bakeri (deputy) Hamid Bakeri Mohammad Pakpour Mohammad Taghi Amini

8th Najaf Ashraf Armored Division (Persian: لشکر 8 نجف اشرف) is a division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It was first officially organized as the 8th Najaf Ashraf Brigade (Persian: تیپ 8 نجف اشرف) during Iran–Iraq War, just after Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh. Initially, the soldiers of the division were mostly from the Najafabad County, Isfahan Province. The division was organized and nicknamed "Najaf Ashraf" by Ahmad Kazemi, which was appointed as its commander by Gholam Ali Rashid. Kazemi asked Mehdi Bakeri to become his deputy, after which units from Azarbaijan Province and Zanjan Province also joined the unit. When Bakeri became the commander of the 31st Ashura Division, these brigades joined the latter. Later, the brigades from Yazd Province also established their own unit, the 18th Al-Ghadir Brigade, and split from the Najaf Division. With the establishment of the 44th Qamar-e Bani-Hashem Brigade, forces from Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province and Isfahan Province also left the Najaf Division.^[1]^[2]

In Operation Beit-ol-Moqaddas, the Najaf Ashraf Division was the unit which first broke into Khorramshahr, capturing thousands of Iraqi soldiers.

It was reportedly the first IRGC division to establish an armored unit, using captured Iraqi armor.^[1] The division is also called 8th Najaf Ashraf Armored Division.

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Notable commanders

Maj.Gen. Ahmad Kazemi (commander)
Lt. Gen. Mehdi Bakeri (deputy)
Dep.Com. Hamid Bakeri (commander)
Brig.Gen Mohammad Pakpour (commander)
Brig.Gen Mansour Haghdoust
Cpt. Mohsen Hojaji
Lt. Musa Jamshidian
Lt. Mohammad Javad Ghorbani
Lt. Komeil Ghorbani
Lt. Alireza Nouri
Lt. Hassan Ahmadi
Lt. Pouya Izadi
Lt. Ruhollah Kafizade
Lt. Mohsen Heidari
Sgt. Musa Kazemi
Pvt. Shir Hossein Hassani

References

^ ^a ^b "Division 8 Najaf : How was formed". Sahebnews.ir. 2016-10-16. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
^ چاپلینک ثابتسطح یگان; یگان مستقل. "لشکر 8 نجف | دفاع‌مقدس". Defamoghaddas.ir (in Persian). Archived from the original on 2016-11-05. Retrieved 2016-11-16.