Warbah Island (Arabic: جزيرة وربة) is an island belonging to Kuwait, located in the Persian Gulf, near the mouth of the Euphrates River. It is located roughly 100 metres (110 yd) east of the Kuwaiti mainland, 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) north of Bubiyan Island, and 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) south of the Iraqi mainland. It is roughly 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) long and 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) wide with a total area of 37 square kilometres (14 square miles).
Iraq claimed the island in the 1970s and 1980s. In November 1994, Iraq formally accepted the UN-demarcated border with Kuwait which had been spelled out in Security Council Resolutions 687 (1991), 773 (1993), and 833 (1993) which formally ended Iraq's earlier claim to Warbah Island.[1]
Near the island in early December 2002, in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, an Iraqi ship opened fire on two Kuwaiti coastguard patrol boats, causing them to collide. A US serviceman and two Kuwaiti coastguards were injured in the attack, no mention was made of the reason for the US serviceman's presence.[2][3]
The island currently has no permanent inhabitants although the government maintains a coastguard post, named M-1 on the island which is partially funded by the United Nations.[4]
- ^ "CIA World Fact Book - Iraq". everything2.com. 2007-01-14.
- ^ "Iraqis 'shot at Kuwaiti vessels'". BBC. 2007-01-14.
- ^ "U.S. Soldier, Two Kuwaiti Coastguards Wounded in Vessel Collision". islamonline.net. 2007-01-14.
- ^ "Budget for the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission for the period from 1 July 2001 to 30 June 2002" (PDF). United Nations. 2007-01-14.