1981 Cyrenian-Kermani War

1981 Cyrenian-Kermani War
Clockwise from the top left: KRAF F-4E fighter taking off from Jahrom Air Base; Cyrenian Puma helicopters used for special forces raids behind Kermani lines; Kermani Royal Army troops engaged in combat on the outskirts of Carystos; Cyrenian Marines of the 27th Marine Brigade boarding their landing craft for Operation Medea
Date 1 April 1981 - 30 April 1981 Location Kerman Result Ceasefire, Cyrenian victory 80% of the Nisos region captured by Cyrenia Nisos Special Region formed The Dirty War begins
Belligerents
Cyrenia EOAN guerillas Supported by:	Kerman Supported by:
Commanders and leaders
Thanasis Melliadis (Prime Minister) Nikolaos Karaoulanis (Minister of Defence) Iakovos Stavreas (Chief of the General Staff of National Defence)	Youssef II Nasarid (King, Commander-in-Chief) Jahangir Keramati (Prime Minister) Homayoun Mofid (Minister of Defence) Keyhan Hosseini (Cheif of the General Staff)
Strength
~70,000 5-8,000 irregulars	~90,000 ~3,000 irregulars
Casualties and losses
3,500 killed, wounded and missing	8,000 killed, wounded and missing

The 1981 Cyrenian-Kermani War, also known as the April War, the One Month War, the Cyrenian Invasion of Kerman or the Third Cyrenian-Kermani War was a military conflict between the Cyrenian Republic and the Kingdom of Kerman that started on April 1st, 1981 and ended with a ceasfire signed on April 30th of the same year. The war was characterised by the daring amhpibious assault on the Kermani coastal region of Nisos (or Nis), which was home to a significant Cyrenian population (close to 45%) and had been historically owned by Cyrenia before. The operation was a resounding success, catching the Kermani Royal Army (which was still recovering from internal strife in the country) by surprise, and forcing them to sue for peace by April 30th. About 80% of Nisos/Nis was captured by the Cyrenians, who created the Nisos Special Region administration.

The war had been preceeded continued unrest in Nisos and other areas of coastal Kerman which hosted Cyrenian minorities. The chaos in the aftermath of the Kermani Civil War in 1974 saw the formation of the Revolutionary Organistaion for the Liberation of Nisos (EOAN), a Cyrenian-backed separatist guerilla movement made up of ethnic Cyrenians that aimed at first for the partial and then total autonomy of the Nisos region from the Kingdom of Kerman. EOAN launched a guerilla movement against Kermani authorities, with open fighting against government forces. Youssef II, who succeded his father Youssef I in 1980, launched a brutal crackdown in Nisos to quell the uprising, with open violence against ethnic Cyrenians and even organised pogroms. This gave Cyrenia the causus belli to launch what it called a "necessary military operation to safeguard the lives, rights and property of the ethnic Cyrenians of Nisos".