By 1986 the war had exhausted Iraq with both Iran and Iraq suffering heavy casualties. Iran had by then captured Al Faw Peninsula and generally pushed Iraqi forces beyond the pre-war border and captured territory inside Iraq, repulsing counterattacks by the Republican Guard. This, coupled with another defeat at the Battle of Mehran, caused the Iraqi Ba'ath Party to convene the Ba'ath Extraordinary Congress of July 1986. During this Congress the Ba'ath Party decided on a new strategy to overhaul the Iraqi military and utilize Iraq's manpower capability. The government closed all colleges and universities and began a mass mobilization program to force draft dodgers into the Iraqi Popular Army. This decision allowed for the drafting of thousands of university students, who were sent to military summer camps. In addition, the military began accepting volunteers from throughout Iraq. With this massive influx of manpower the Republican Guard expanded to over 25 brigades which were led by loyal officers drawn from the Iraqi military. This force then conducted the "Tawakalna ala Allah Operations" which, allowed for the eviction of the Iranians out of occupied Iraqi territory including the liberation of Al-Faw, as well as allowing for renewed major offensives into Iran. The order of battle according to Iranian sources was as follows:  There are some claims of units with names that are unknown. "See articles Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm"  Between the invasion of Kuwait and the Persian Gulf War, the number of Republican Guard formations was expanded and the Guard was reorganized. The Republican Guard Forces Command was also created during this period. At the beginning of the Persian Gulf War, it consisted of the following units:  Deployed outside of the corps structure were various other units including:  The Republican Guard also included two Corps Headquarters, the "Allah Akbar" Republican Guard Operations Command, and the "Fat'h al-Mubayyin" Republican Guard Operations Command, separate artillery detachments and numerous field support units. Between the invasion of Kuwait and the start of the war on 17 January 1991, four more RGFC internal security divisions had been formed which remained behind in Iraq. All of these units were motorised infantry. The names of only three of them were identified: the "Al-Abed", "Al-Mustafa" ('The Elect') and "Al-Nida" Divisions ('The Call'). They may have conducted operations against Kurdish forces in the north. By 1 August 1990, there were more than 100,000 Iraqi troops with up to 700 tanks on the Kuwaiti border.