H-3 Air Base (code-named 202C, 202D) is part of a cluster of former Iraqi Air Force bases in the Al-Anbar Governorate of Iraq. H3 is located in a remote stretch of Iraq's western desert, about 435 kilometers from Baghdad in western Iraq. It is close to the Syrian–Iraqi border, and near the highway that connects Jordan with Baghdad. H-3 Main is supported by two dispersal airfields, H-3 Southwest , and H-3 Northwest , and a Highway strip, 42 kilometers to the west . H-3 Southwest is served by a single 9,700-foot runway and has a parallel taxiway that could be used as an alternate runway. The complex was one of eight major operating bases of the Iraqi Air Force prior to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. History H-3 airstrip was established by the Iraq Petroleum Company in 1935 as a landing ground for pumping station H3 on the Mosul–Haifa oil pipeline. It was never a British Royal Air Force (RAF) air base although during World War II the pumping station and adjacent oil pipeline were patrolled by RAF Armoured Cars, together with RAF Iraq Levies based at H3 and RAF aircraft would have used the airstrip. Iraqi Air Force During the 1970s, it was one of several Iraqi airfields upgraded under project "Super-Base" in response to the experiences from Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973. Companies from Yugoslavia – previously engaged in building bridges in Iraq – became involved in airfield construction. Due to their specific construction of these airfields – which included taxi-ways leading right out of Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS) and laid diagonally to the runways – they became known as "Trapezoids" or "Yugos". The protection of each HAS consisted of one meter thick concrete shells, reinforced by 30 cm thick steel plates. There was only one entrance and this was covered by sliding doors, made of 50 cm thick steel armoured plate and concrete. The HAS' were usually built in small groups – seldom more than five, with each group sharing the same water and power supply, besides having own backup gasoline-powered electrical generator, and each HAS being equipped with a semi-automatic aircraft-refueling system. Iran–Iraq War During the winter of 1980–1981, Iraqi Air Force kept back its military airplanes in H-3 base to protect them from Iranian Air Force Attacks. So the Iranian Air Force devised an operation to bomb the air base. On 4 April