Persian Gulf War Begins
The Persian Gulf War began on January 16, 1991, when the United States and its allies launched Operation Desert Storm in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. The conflict was rooted in the tumultuous events of the 1980s, particularly Iraq's war with Iran, which left the country in significant debt. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, seeking financial support from Kuwait, accused the emirate of overproducing oil and exploiting shared resources, leading to escalating tensions. Efforts at mediation failed, prompting Hussein to invade Kuwait.
In the wake of the invasion, the international community, led by the U.S., imposed economic sanctions on Iraq and sought a diplomatic resolution. The UN Security Council set a deadline for Iraqi withdrawal, which was ultimately ignored. Following congressional approval for military action, the U.S. and its coalition partners began extensive bombing campaigns against Iraqi targets. The military engagement effectively dismantled Iraqi military capabilities, paving the way for ground forces to liberate Kuwait by late February 1991. This conflict was one of the significant military confrontations in the early 1990s and had lasting implications for the region and international relations.
Persian Gulf War Begins
Persian Gulf War Begins
On January 16, 1991, the United States and its allies began to move against the forces of Iraq, which had invaded and occupied the emirate of Kuwait. This was the beginning of Operation Desert Storm, one of the major military confrontations of the 1990s.
The events leading up to Operation Desert Storm go back to the 1980s, when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein tried to take advantage of the turmoil in neighboring Iran by attacking that country while it was in the midst of a revolution. Hussein thought that the disorganized Iranians would be an easy target for Iraqi territorial expansionism, but he was mistaken. He borrowed money from neighboring Arab states, including Kuwait on Iraq's southeastern border along the Persian Gulf, to help finance his war. In 1990, after the war with Iran had ended, he began to pressure Kuwait, a small but wealthy country, for further financial assistance to help with postwar debt problems. Kuwait refused. Hussein next accused Kuwait of exploiting the resources of the Rumaila oil field, which straddles both their countries, and of surpassing the quota for oil production set by the Organization of Oil Producing Countries (OPEC), thereby lowering the price of oil, Iraq's primary export. As Iraq massed its forces along the southern border with Kuwait, various Arab states tried to mediate the dispute but to no avail. Thinking that the countries of the West were uninterested in the conflict, and with another session of negotiations scheduled in Baghdad, Hussein sent Iraqi forces into Kuwait on August 2, 1990, and quickly occupied the country.
U.S. president George H. W. Bush initiated a series of international economic sanctions against Iraq through the UN and began assembling an American expeditionary force that would eventually number in the hundreds of thousands. Bush also secured military and financial assistance from American allies throughout the world, including Arab states in the region. On November 29, 1990, the UN Security Council gave Iraq until January 15, 1991, to withdraw its forces from Kuwait and authorized the use of all necessary force by the United States and its allies to force Iraqi compliance. This measure, Security Council Resolution 678, was followed on January 12, 1991, by a resolution of the U.S. Congress authorizing the use of American troops against Iraq. The January 12 vote came after several months of fruitless negotiations with Iraq.
On January 16, 1991, the Bush administration announced that “the liberation of Kuwait has begun.” American military aircraft began thousands of bombing missions and missile attacks against Iraqi military targets. By February 23, 1991, Iraqi installations (military bases, airfields, and other strategic sites) were largely in ruins, and the U.S.-led ground forces took the offensive into Kuwait itself, driving the Iraqis out.