Īmerican military intelligence believed some were equipped with Belgian-made thermal sights. Lion of Babylon T-72s were upgraded with the addition of laminated armor on the front slope and rear panels as protection against HEAT projectiles. In most aspects, the Lion of Babylon is physically identical to the T-72M1 it is based on. It is not known how many Lion tanks were completed during the span between early 1989 and this embargo.

The United Nations imposed an arms embargo following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, which reduced the complete assembly of tanks to simple spare parts for Lions and other tanks in the Iraqi arsenal. In 1991 the Taji plant was destroyed by an airstrike while being upgraded by Bumar-Łabędy. General Amer Rashid however did not like the idea of being dependent on knockdown kits supplied by another country and pushed for the complete production of the T-72M1 tank instead. The local assembly of the T-72 started in Taji in early 1989 as suggested by Iraqi officials. According to Polish officials not a single T-72M1 was finished, even though in 1988 a T-72M was displayed on an Iraqi arms show, which was claimed to be locally produced. The assembly was to start in 1989 and the tanks would receive the name Asad Babil (Lion of Babylon). These tanks were to be assembled from knockdown kits delivered by the Polish state-owned company Bumar-Łabędy. In the late-1980s plans were made to produce new T-72M1 tanks in Taji. It was enlisted to retrofit and rebuild tanks already on duty in the Iraqi Army, such as T-54/55s, T-62s, and several hundred of Soviet and Polish T-72s, imported during early stages of the war with Iran. In 1986 a West German company built a factory in Taji to manufacture steel for several military uses.

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