Some surviving T-72s are used for training, and the experience of Iraqi Army officers and crews with the T-72 was one of the reasons behind the choice of Hungarian T-72M1s. The headquarters of this new Iraqi Army unit is located in Taji, where Iraq had attempted to assemble T-72s locally in the late 1980s. Two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the new Iraqi Government acquired dozens of refitted T-72M1s from Hungary, in order to equip an armored brigade. As of 1996, Iraq had 776 T-72 tanks in service. Some of these were destroyed during the Iran–Iraq War, or captured by the Iranians. Overall, Iraq received about 1,038 T-72 tanks, primarily produced in Poland. However, Poland started delivering T-72s in January of 1982, and in September of the same year, Soviet exports resumed as well. Iraq utilized these tanks during the invasion of Iran, which temporarily put T-72 exports to Iraq to a halt. The model of T-72 received was the T-72M, a T-72 export variant without composite armor and equipped with less firepower. In the 1970s and 80s, Iraq purchased a hundred T-72 from the Soviet Union. In the 1980s, Iraq also established a factory to retrofit and repair T-72s, and started the Lion of Babylon project with the intent to assemble T-72s locally. The tanks saw service in both the Gulf War and the Iraq War. During the early stages of the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq under the rule of Saddam Hussein imported a number of T-72 tanks from the Soviet Union and Poland.
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