Gulf War

Gulf War
From top to bottom, left to right: U.S. Air Force F-15Es, F-16s, and an F-15C flying over burning Kuwaiti oil wells a U.S. Army M1 Abrams laying down a smokescreen British troops from the Staffordshire Regiment practicing casualty evacuation wrecked and abandoned vehicles on the Highway of Death camera view from a Lockheed AC-130
Date 2 August 1990 – 17 January 1991 (Operation Desert Shield) 17 January – 28 February 1991 (Operation Desert Storm) (6 months, 3 weeks and 5 days) Location Iraq Kuwait Saudi Arabia Persian Gulf Israel Result Coalition victory Territorial changes State of Kuwait resumes self-governance over all Kuwaiti sovereign territory Establishment of a demilitarized zone and construction of a separation barrier along the Iraq–Kuwait border
Belligerents
United States  United Kingdom  France  Saudi Arabia  Egypt  Kuwait Coalition: Afghan mujahideen[1]  Argentina  Australia  Bahrain  Bangladesh  Belgium  Canada Czechoslovakia  Denmark  Germany  Greece  Honduras  Hungary  Italy  Japan  Luxembourg  Morocco  Netherlands  New Zealand  Niger  Norway  Oman  Pakistan  Philippines  Poland  Portugal  Qatar  Romania  Senegal  Sierra Leone  Singapore  South Korea  Spain  Sweden  Syria  Turkey  United Arab Emirates	Iraq
Commanders and leaders
George H. W. Bush Dick Cheney Colin Powell Norman Schwarzkopf Chuck Horner John J. Yeosock Walter E. Boomer Stanley R. Arthur Robert B. Johnston Margaret Thatcher John Major Peter de la Billière François Mitterrand Michel Roquejeoffre Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah King Fahd Prince Abdullah Prince Sultan Saleh Al-Muhaya Khalid bin Sultan[2][3] Prince Nayef Prince Badr Prince Turki Al Faisal Hosni Mubarak Youssef Sabri Abu Taleb Salah Halabi Muhammad Tantawi	Saddam Hussein Tariq Aziz Ali Hassan al-Majid Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Iyad Futayyih Hussein Kamel al-Majid Abid Hamid Mahmud Muzahim Saab Hassan Salah Aboud Mahmoud
Strength
Over 950,000 soldiers 3,113 tanks 1,800 aircraft 2,200 artillery pieces	1,000,000+ soldiers (~600,000 in Kuwait) 5,500 tanks 700+ aircraft 3,000 artillery systems[4]
Casualties and losses
Total: 13,488 Coalition: 292 killed (147 killed by enemy action, 145 non-hostile deaths) 776 wounded[5] (467 wounded in action) 31 tanks destroyed/disabled[6][7][8][9] [10][11][12][13] 28 Bradley IFVs destroyed/damaged [14][15] 1 M113 APC destroyed 2 British Warrior APCs destroyed 1 artillery piece destroyed 75 aircraft destroyed[citation needed] Kuwait: 420 killed 12,000 captured ≈200 tanks destroyed/captured 850+ other armored vehicles destroyed/captured 57 aircraft lost 8 aircraft captured (Mirage F1s) 17 ships sunk, 6 captured[16]	Total: 175,000–300,000+ Iraqi: 20,000–50,000 killed[17][18] 75,000+ wounded[5] 80,000–175,000 captured[17][19][20] 3,300 tanks destroyed[17] 2,100 APCs destroyed[17] 2,200 artillery pieces destroyed[17] 110 aircraft destroyed[citation needed] 137 aircraft flown to Iran to escape destruction[21][22] 19 ships sunk, 6 damaged[citation needed]
Kuwaiti civilian losses: Over 1,000 killed[23] 600 missing people[24] Iraqi civilian losses: 3,664 killed directly[25] Total Iraqi losses (including 1991 Iraqi uprisings): 142,500–206,000 deaths (According to Medact)[a][26] Other civilian losses: 75 killed in Israel and Saudi Arabia, 309 injured

Part of a series on
Ba'athism
Organisations Arab Ba'ath 1940–1947 Arab Ba'ath Movement 1940–1947 Ba'ath Party 1947–1966 Baath Party (pro-Iraqi) 1968–2003 Baath Party (pro-Syrian) 1966–present
People Zaki al-Arsuzi Michel Aflaq Salah al-Din al-Bitar Abdullah Rimawi Wahib al-Ghanim Fuad al-Rikabi Salah Jadid Hafez al-Assad Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Saddam Hussein Bashar al-Assad Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
Literature On the Way of Resurrection The Battle for One Destiny The Genius of Arabic in Its Tongue
History Ba'athist Iraq Ramadan Revolution November 1963 coup d'état 17 July Revolution Iran–Iraq War Gulf War UN sanctions Iraq War De-Ba'athification Baathist Syria Syrian Committee to Help Iraq 1963 / 1966 coup d'états Corrective Revolution Intervention in Lebanon Syrian occupation of Lebanon Assadist-Saddamist conflict Syrian civil war
Regional organisations Algeria pro-Iraq pro-Syria Bahrain pro-Iraq pro-Syria Egypt pro-Iraq pro-Syria Iraq pro-Iraq pro-Syria Jordan pro-Iraq pro-Syria Kuwait pro-Iraq Lebanon pro-Iraq pro-Syria Libya pro-Iraq Mauritania pro-Iraq pro-Syria Palestine pro-Iraq pro-Syria Sudan pro-Iraq pro-Syria Syria pro-Iraq pro-Syria Tunisia pro-Iraq pro-Syria Yemen pro-Iraq pro-Syria
Splinter groups Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party 1960–1962/63 Socialist Lebanon 1965–1970 Arab Revolutionary Workers Party 1966–present Democratic Socialist Arab Ba'ath Party 1970–present Sudanese Ba'ath Party 2002–present
Related topics Arab nationalism Arab socialism Nasserism Pan-Arabism Saddamism
Politics portal Socialism portal
v t e

This article is part of a series about Saddam Hussein
Personal Early life Saddamism Ba'athist Iraq Family Uday Qusay Raghad Rana Sajida Talfah Affiliations Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Iraq-based Ba'ath Party Revolutionary Command Council Political offices President of Iraq (1979–2003) Prime Minister of Iraq (1979–1991, 1994–2003) Vice President of Iraq (1968–1979) Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council (1979–2003) Regional Secretary of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party (1964–1966, 1979–2006) Secretary General of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party (1992–2006) Rise to power 1959 Mosul uprising Ramadan Revolution 17 July Revolution First Iraqi–Kurdish War Yom Kippur War Second Iraqi–Kurdish War 1974–75 Shatt al-Arab conflict 1975 Algiers Agreement 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge Presidency Iran–Iraq War Iraqi invasion of Iran Dujail massacre Anfal campaign Halabja massacre Iraqi invasion of Kuwait Gulf War missile attacks on Israel missile attacks on U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia 1991 Iraqi uprisings 1999 Shia uprising 2003 invasion of Iraq Battle of Baghdad Firdos Square statue destruction Human rights record Al-Qaeda link allegations Timeline Nuclear weapon program Operation Opera Desposition Capture Interrogation Trial Execution Reactions Elections and referendums 1995 Iraqi presidential referendum 2002 Iraqi presidential referendum Books Blood Quran Zabibah and the King The Fortified Castle Men and the City Begone, Demons
v t e

This article is part of a series about George H. W. Bush
Personal Family Electoral history Eponyms Honors Bibliography Bush School of Government Points of Light Death 43rd Vice President of the United States Transition Reagan administration first inauguration second inauguration Reagan assassination attempt Foreign policy Vice presidential campaigns 1980 election selection convention debates 1984 election convention debates 41st President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition Inauguration Presidential library Tenure Thousand points of light Invasion of Panama Gulf War Operation Restore Hope NAFTA International trips Pardons Policies Environmental Foreign Appointments Federal judges Thomas Presidential campaigns 1980 primaries convention 1988 election primaries convention "No new taxes" debates 1992 election primaries convention debates
v t e

The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States. The coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: Operation Desert Shield, which marked the military buildup from August 1990 to January 1991; and Operation Desert Storm, which began with the aerial bombing campaign against Iraq on 17 January 1991 and came to a close with the American-led liberation of Kuwait on 28 February 1991.

On 2 August 1990, Iraq, governed by Saddam Hussein, invaded neighboring Kuwait and fully occupied the country within two days. The invasion was primarily over disputes regarding Kuwait's alleged slant drilling in Iraq's Rumaila oil field, as well as to cancel Iraq's large debt to Kuwait from the recently ended Iran-Iraq War. After Iraq briefly occupied Kuwait under a rump puppet government known as the "Republic of Kuwait", it split Kuwait's sovereign territory into the "Saddamiyat al-Mitla' District" in the north, which was absorbed into Iraq's existing Basra Governorate, and the "Kuwait Governorate" in the south, which became Iraq's 19th governorate.

The invasion of Kuwait was met with immediate international condemnation, including the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 660, which demanded Iraq's immediate withdrawal from Kuwait, and the imposition of comprehensive international sanctions against Iraq with the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 661. British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and U.S. president George H. W. Bush deployed troops and equipment into Saudi Arabia and urged other countries to send their own forces. An array of countries joined the American-led coalition, forming the largest military alliance since World War II. The bulk of the coalition's military power was from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Egypt as the largest lead-up contributors, in that order.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 678, adopted on 29 November 1990, gave Iraq an ultimatum, expiring on 15 January 1991, to implement Resolution 660 and withdraw from Kuwait, with member-states empowered to use "all necessary means" to force Iraq's compliance. Initial efforts to dislodge the Iraqis from Kuwait began with aerial and naval bombardment of Iraq on 17 January, which continued for five weeks. As the Iraqi military struggled against the coalition attacks, Iraq fired missiles at Israel to provoke an Israeli military response, with the expectation that such a response would lead to the withdrawal of several Muslim-majority countries from the coalition. The provocation was unsuccessful; Israel did not retaliate and Iraq continued to remain at odds with most Muslim-majority countries. Iraqi missile barrages against coalition targets in Saudi Arabia were also largely unsuccessful, and on 24 February 1991, the coalition launched a major ground assault into Iraqi-occupied Kuwait. The offensive was a decisive victory for the coalition, who liberated Kuwait and promptly began to advance past the Iraq–Kuwait border into Iraqi territory. A hundred hours after the beginning of the ground campaign, the coalition ceased its advance into Iraq and declared a ceasefire. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas straddling the Iraq–Saudi Arabia border.

The conflict marked the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the American network CNN. It has also earned the nickname Video Game War, after the daily broadcast of images from cameras onboard American military aircraft during Operation Desert Storm. The Gulf War has also gained fame for some of the largest tank battles in American military history: the Battle of Medina Ridge, the Battle of Norfolk, and the Battle of 73 Easting.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).