This article is about the war in 1990/91. For other wars of that name, see Gulf War (disambiguation). "Operation Desert Storm" redirects here. For the video game, see Operation: Desert Storm (video game). Persian Gulf War Part of the Persian Gulf conflicts Clockwise from top: USAF aircraft flying over burning Kuwaiti oil wells; British troops in Operation Granby; Camera view from a Lockheed AC-130; Highway of Death; M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle Date August 2, 1990 – February 28, 1991 (210 days) (Operation Desert Storm officially ended 30 November 1995)1 Location Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Israel Result Coalition victory Imposition of sanctions against Iraq Removal of Iraqi invasion force from Kuwait Heavy Iraqi casualties and destruction of Iraqi and Kuwaiti infrastructure Belligerents Coalition forces  United States  United Kingdom  Arab League  Kuwait  Saudi Arabia  Egypt  Syria  Morocco  Qatar  Oman  United Arab Emirates  France  Denmark2  Belgium  Pakistan  Canada  Australia  New Zealand  Argentina  Spain  Italy  Bangladesh  Niger  Poland  Czechoslovakia  Greece  South Korea  Hungary and others Iraq Commanders and leaders Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah George H. W. Bush Norman Schwarzkopf Colin Powell Calvin Waller King Fahd Prince Abdullah Prince Sultan Turki Al-Faisal Saleh Al-Muhaya Khalid bin Sultan34 John Major Patrick Hine Andrew Wilson Peter de la Billière John Chapple Michel Roquejoffre Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Mustafa Tlass Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Mirza Aslam Beg Saddam Hussein Ali Hassan al-Majid Salah Aboud Mahmoud Strength 959,6005 545,000 (100,000 in Kuwait)citation needed Casualties and losses Coalition: 240-392 killed6 776 wounded7 Kuwait: 1,200 killedcitation needed 20,000-35,000 killed7 Kuwaiti civilian losses: Over 1,000 killed8 Iraqi civilian losses: About 3,664 killed9 Other civilian losses: 2 Israeli civilians killed, 230 injured10 1 Saudi civilian killed, 65 injured11 v · d · e Recent wars and conflicts in the Persian Gulf Iran-Iraq War – Opera – Gulf War – 1991 uprisings – Provide Comfort – Southern Watch – 1993 cruise missile strikes – Kurdish Civil War – Desert Strike – Northern Watch – Desert Fox – Kurdistan Islamist Conflict – Southern Focus – Iraq War v · d · e Gulf War Invasion of Kuwait Kuwaiti Bridges – Dasman Palace Coalition intervention Ad-Dawrah – Qurah – Maradim – Khafji – Bubiyan – Wadi Al-Batin Air campaign Air-Air combat – "Package Q" Air Strike Liberation of Kuwait Order of battle – 67 Easting – 73 Easting – Al Busayyah – Phase Line Bullet – Medina Ridge – Highway of Death – Jalibah – Norfolk Post-ceasefire Rumaila – Safwan Iraqi uprisings The Persian Gulf War (August 2, 1990 – February 28, 1991), commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from thirty-four nations led by Britain and the United States, against Iraq. This war has also been referred to (by the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein) as the Mother of All Battles,12 and is commonly, though mistakenly, known as Operation Desert Storm for the operational name of the military response13 (See section 12.1 Operational Names below), the First Gulf War, Gulf War I, or the Iraq War,141516 before the term became identified with the 2003-2010 Iraq War. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. U.S. President George H. W. Bush deployed American forces to Saudi Arabia almost 6 months afterwards, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the Coalition. The great majority of the military forces in the coalition were from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Around US$36 billion of the US$60 billion cost was paid by Saudi Arabia.17 The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial bombardment on 17 January 1991. This was followed by a ground assault on 23 February. This was a decisive victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait and advanced into Iraqi territory. The coalition ceased their advance, and declared a cease-fire 100 hours after the ground campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas on the border of Saudi Arabia. However, Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel. Contents 1 Origins 1.1 Tensions with Kuwait 1.2 The Invasion of Kuwait 2 Preemptive Diplomacy 2.1 UN resolution 2.2 Iraqi-American diplomacy 2.3 UN Diplomacy 2.4 Operation Desert Shield 2.5 Creating a coalition 2.6 Reasons and campaign for intervention 3 Early battles 3.1 Air campaign 3.2 Iraq launches missile strikes 3.3 Battle of Khafji 4 Ground campaign 4.1 Liberation of Kuwait 4.2 Initial moves into Iraq 4.3 Coalition forces enter Iraq 4.4 Post-war military analysis 5 The end of active hostilities 6 Coalition involvement 6.1 United Kingdom 6.2 France 6.3 Canada 6.4 Australia 7 Casualties 7.1 Civilian 7.2 Iraqi 7.3 Coalition 7.3.1 Friendly fire 8 Gulf War controversies 8.1 Gulf War Illness 8.2 Effects of depleted uranium 8.3 Highway of Death 8.4 Bulldozer assault 8.5 Killing of unarmed Iraqi Soldiers 8.6 Coalition bombing of Iraq's civilian infrastructure 8.7 Abuse of coalition POWs 8.8 Operation Southern Watch 8.9 Gulf war sanctions 8.10 Draining of the Qurna Marshes 8.11 Gulf War oil spill 8.12 Kuwaiti oil fires 9 Cost 10 Media coverage 11 Technology 11.1 Scud and Patriot missiles 12 Alternate names for the Gulf War 12.1 Operational Names 12.2 Campaigns 13 See also 14 Notes and references 15 Bibliography 15.1 Films about the Persian Gulf War 15.2 Novels about the Gulf War 15.3 Video games related to the Gulf War 16 External links // Origins Further information: Iraq-United States relations Throughout much of the Cold War, Iraq had been an ally of the Soviet Union, and there was a history of friction between it and the United States. The U.S. was concerned with Iraq's position on Israeli–Palestinian politics, and its disapproval of the nature of the peace between Israel and Egypt. The United States also disliked Iraqi support for various Arab and Palestinian militant groups such as Abu Nidal, which led to its inclusion on the developing U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism on 29 December 1979. The U.S. remained officially neutral after the invasion of Iran in 1980, which became the Iran–Iraq War, although it assisted Iraq covertly. In March 1982, however, Iran began a successful counteroffensive - Operation Undeniable Victory, and the United States increased its support for Iraq to prevent Iran from forcing a surrender. In a U.S. bid to open full diplomatic relations with Iraq, the country was removed from the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Ostensibly this was because of improvement in the regime’s record, although former United States Assistant Secretary of Defense Noel Koch later stated, "No one had any doubts about [the Iraqis'] continued involvement in terrorism... The real reason was to help them succeed in the war against Iran."18 With Iraq's newfound success in the war, and the Iranian rebuff of a peace offer in July, arms sales to Iraq reached a record spike in 1982. An obstacle, however, remained to any potential U.S.-Iraqi relationship - Abu Nidal continued to operate with official support in Baghdad. When Iraqi President Saddam Hussein expelled the group to Syria at the United States' request in November 1983, the Reagan administration sent Donald Rumsfeld to meet President Hussein as a special envoy and to cultivate ties. Tensions with Kuwait By the time the ceasefire with Iran was signed in August 1988, Iraq was virtually bankrupt, with most of its debt owed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iraq pressured both nations to forgive the debts, but they refused. Iraq also accused Kuwait of exceeding its OPEC quotas and driving down the price of oil, thus further hurting the Iraqi economy. The collapse in oil prices had a catastrophic impact on the Iraqi economy. The Iraqi Government described it as a form of economic warfare, which it claimed was aggravated by Kuwait slant-drilling across the border into Iraq's Rumaila oil field.19 Map of Kuwait The Iraq-Kuwait dispute also involved Iraqi claims to Kuwait as a territory of Iraq. After gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1932, the Iraqi government immediately declared that Kuwait was rightfully a territory of Iraq, as it had been an Iraqi territory for centuries until the British creation of Kuwait after World War I and thus stated that Kuwait was a British imperialist invention.20 Iraq claimed Kuwait had been a part of the Ottoman Empire's province of Basra. Its ruling dynasty, the al-Sabah family, had concluded a protectorate agreement in 1899 that assigned responsibility for its foreign affairs to Britain. Britain drew the border between the two countries, and deliberately tried to limit Iraq's access to the ocean so that any future Iraqi government would be in no position to threaten Britain's domination of the Persian Gulf. Iraq refused to accept the border, and did not recognize the Kuwaiti government until 1963.21 In early July 1990, Iraq complained about Kuwait's behavior, such as not respecting their quota, and openly threatened to take military action. On the 23rd, the CIA reported that Iraq had moved 30,000 troops to the Iraq-Kuwait border, and the U.S. naval fleet in the Persian Gulf was placed on alert. On the 25th, Saddam Hussein met with April Glaspie, an American ambassador, in Baghdad. According to an Iraqi transcript of that meeting, Glaspie told the Iraqi delegation, "We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts."22 According to Glaspie's own account, she stated in reference to the precise border between Kuwait and Iraq, "(...) that she had served in Kuwait 20 years before; then, as now, we took no position on these Arab affairs."23 On the 31st, negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait in Jeddah failed violently. The Invasion of Kuwait Main article: Invasion of Kuwait M-84 main battle tanks of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces Kuwait Air Force A-4KU Skyhawks On 2 August 1990 Iraq launched the invasion by bombing Kuwait City, the Kuwaiti capital. A long-time ally of Saddam Hussein, Yemen's President, Ali Abdullah Saleh was quick to back Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. 24 In spite of Iraqi saber-rattling, Kuwait did not have its forces on alert, and was caught unaware. Iraqi commandos infiltrated the Kuwaiti border first to prepare for the major units which began the attack at the stroke of midnight. The Iraqi attack had two prongs, with the primary attack force driving south straight for Kuwait City down the main highway, and a supporting attack entering Kuwait farther west, but then turning and driving due east, cutting off the capital city from the southern half of the country. The commander of a Kuwaiti armored battalion, 35th Armoured Brigade, deployed them against the Iraqi attack and was able to conduct a robust defense near Al Jahra (see The Battle of the Bridges), west of Kuwait City.25 Kuwait Air Force aircraft scrambled to meet the invading force, but approximately 20% were lost or captured. An air battle with the Iraqi helicopter airborne forces was fought over Kuwait City, inflicting heavy losses on the Iraqi elite troops, and a few combat sorties were flown against Iraqi ground forces.26 The main Iraqi thrust into Kuwait City was conducted by commandos deployed by helicopters and boats to attack the city from the sea, while other divisions seized the airports and two airbases. The Iraqis attacked the Dasman Palace, the Royal Residence of the Emir of Kuwait, Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, which was defended by the Emiri Guard supported with M-84 tanks. In the process, the Iraqis killed Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait's youngest brother.27 After two days of intense combat, most of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces were either overrun by the Iraqi Republican Guard, or had escaped to neighboring Saudi Arabia. The emir and key ministers were able to get out and head south along the highway for refuge in Saudi Arabia. Iraqi ground forces consolidated their control on Kuwait City, then headed south and redeployed along the border of Saudi Arabia. After the decisive Iraqi victory, Saddam Hussein initially installed a puppet regime known as the "Provisional Government of Free Kuwait" before installing his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid as the governor of Kuwait on August 8.27

Saddam Hussein detained several Westerners, with video footage shown on state television On 23 August 1990 President Saddam appeared on state television with Western hostages to whom he had refused exit visas. In the video, he patted a small British boy named Stuart Lockwood on the back with his left hand. Saddam then asks, through his interpreter, Sadoun al-Zubaydi, whether Stuart is getting his milk. Saddam went on to say, "We hope your presence as guests here will not be for too long. Your presence here, and in other places, is meant to prevent the scourge of war."28 Preemptive Diplomacy UN resolution Within hours of the invasion, Kuwaiti and U.S. delegations requested a meeting of the UN Security Council, which passed Resolution 660, condemning the invasion and demanding a withdrawal of Iraqi troops. On 3 August the Arab League passed its own resolution, which called for a solution to the conflict from within the League, and warned against outside intervention. On 6 August UN Resolution 661 placed economic sanctions on Iraq. United Nations Security Council Resolution 665 followed soon after, which authorized a naval blockade to enforce the economic sanctions against Iraq. It said the “use of measures commensurate to the specific circumstances as may be necessary ... to halt all inward and outward maritime shipping in order to inspect and verify their cargoes and destinations and to ensure strict implementation of resolution 661.”29 Iraqi-American diplomacy President Bush visiting American troops in Saudi Arabia on Thanksgiving Day, 1990. From the beginning, U.S. officials insisted on a total Iraqi pullout from Kuwait, without any linkage to other Middle Eastern problems, fearing any concessions would strengthen Iraqi influence in the region for years to come.30 On 12 August 1990, Saddam Hussein called for compromise via Baghdad radio and the former Iraqi News Agency. Hussein "propose[d] that all cases of occupation, and those cases that have been portrayed as occupation, in the region, be resolved simultaneouly [sic]". Specifically, he called for Israel to withdraw from occupied territories in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, Syria to withdraw from Lebanon, and "mutual withdrawals by Iraq and Iran and arrangement for the situation in Kuwait." He also called for a replacement of US troops that mobilized in Saudi Arabia in response to the invasion of Kuwait with "an Arab force", as long as that force did not involve Egypt. Additionally, he requested an "immediate freeze of all boycott and siege decisions" and a general normalization of relations with Iraq.31 From the beginning of the crisis, President Bush was strongly opposed to any "linkage" between the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait and the Palestinian issue.32 Another Iraqi proposal communicated in August 1990 was delivered to National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft by an unidentified Iraqi official. The official communicated to the White House that Iraq would "withdraw from Kuwait and allow foreigners to leave" provided that the UN lifted sanctions, allowed "'guaranteed access' to the Persian Gulf through the Kuwaiti islands of Bubiyan and Warbah", and allowed Iraq to "gain full control of the Rumailah oil field that extends slightly into Kuwaiti territory". The proposal also "include[d] offers to negotiate an oil agreement with the United States 'satisfactory to both nations' national security interests,' develop a joint plan 'to alleviate Iraq's economical and financial problems' and 'jointly work on the stability of the gulf.'"33 In December 1990, Iraq made a proposal to withdraw from Kuwait provided that their forces were not attacked as they left, and that a consensus was reached regarding the banning of WMD in the Palestinian region. The White House rejected the proposal.34 Yasser Arafat of the PLO expressed that neither he nor Hussein insisted that solving the Israel-Palestine issues should be a precondition to solving the issues in Kuwait, though he did acknowledge a "strong link" between these problems.35 Ultimately, the US stuck to its hard line position that there would be no negotiations until Iraq withdrew from Kuwait and that they should not grant Iraq concessions, lest they give the impression that Iraq benefited from its military campaign.30 Also, when Secretary of State James Baker met with Tariq Aziz in Geneva for last minute peace talks in early 1991, Aziz reportedly made no concrete proposals and did not outline any hypothetical Iraqi moves.36 UN Diplomacy On November 29, 1990 the U.N. passed security council resolution 678 which gave Iraq until 15 January 1991 to withdraw from Kuwait and empowered states to use "all necessary means" to force Iraq out of Kuwait after the deadline. On 14 January 1991, France proposed that the U.N. Security Council call for "a rapid and massive withdrawal" from Kuwait along with a statement to Iraq that Council members would bring their "active contribution" to a settlement of other problems of the region, "in particular, of the Arab-Israeli conflict and in particular to the Palestinian problem by convening, at an appropriate moment, an international conference" to assure "the security, stability and development of this region of the world." The French proposal was supported by Belgium (at the moment one of the rotating Security Council members), and Germany, Spain, Italy, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and several non-aligned nations. The U.S. and Britain rejected it (along with the Soviet Union, irrelevantly). American U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering stated that the French proposal was unacceptable, because it went beyond previous U.N. Security Council resolutions on the Iraqi invasion.373839 Operation Desert Shield One of the main concerns of the west was the significant threat Iraq posed to Saudi Arabia. Following the conquest of Kuwait, the Iraqi army was within easy striking distance of Saudi oil fields. Control of these fields, along with Kuwaiti and Iraqi reserves, would have given Hussein control over the majority of the world's oil reserves. Iraq also had a number of grievances with Saudi Arabia. The Saudis had lent Iraq some 26 billion dollars during its war with Iran. The Saudis backed Iraq, as they feared the influence of Shia Iran's Islamic revolution on its own Shia minority. After the war, Saddam felt he should not have to repay the loans due to the help he had given the Saudis by stopping Iran. F-15Es parked during Operation Desert Shield. Soon after his conquest of Kuwait, Hussein began verbally attacking the Saudi kingdom. He argued that the U.S.-supported Saudi state was an illegitimate and unworthy guardian of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. He combined the language of the Islamist groups that had recently fought in Afghanistan with the rhetoric Iran had long used to attack the Saudis.40 Acting on the policy of the Carter Doctrine, and out of fear the Iraqi army could launch an invasion of Saudi Arabia, U.S. President George H. W. Bush quickly announced that the U.S. would launch a "wholly defensive" mission to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia under the codename Operation Desert Shield. Operation Desert Shield began on 7 August 1990 when U.S. troops were sent to Saudi Arabia due also to the request of its monarch, King Fahd, who had earlier called for U.S. military assistance.41 This "wholly defensive" doctrine was quickly abandoned when, on 8 August, Iraq declared Kuwait to be the 19th province of Iraq and Saddam Hussein named his cousin, Ali Hassan Al-Majid as its military-governor.42 The United States Navy mobilized two naval battle groups, the aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Independence and their escorts, to the area, where they were ready by 8 August. A total of 48 U.S. Air Force F-15s from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, landed in Saudi Arabia, and immediately commenced round the clock air patrols of the Saudi–Kuwait–Iraq border areas to discourage further Iraqi military advances. They were joined by 36 F-15 A-Ds from the 36th TFW at Bitburg, Germany. The Bitburg contingent was based at Al Kharj Air Base, approximately 1 hour southeast of Riyadh. The 36th TFW were responsible for 11 confirmed Iraqi Air Force aircraft shot down during the war. The U.S. also sent the battleships USS Missouri and USS Wisconsin to the region. Military buildup continued from there, eventually reaching 543,000 troops, twice the number used in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Much of the material was airlifted or carried to the staging areas via fast sealift ships, allowing a quick buildup. Creating a coalition A series of UN Security Council resolutions and Arab League resolutions were passed regarding the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. One of the most important was Resolution 678, passed on 29 November 1990, which gave Iraq a withdrawal deadline until 15 January 1991, and authorized “all necessary means to uphold and implement Resolution 660,” and a diplomatic formulation authorizing the use of force if Iraq failed to comply.43 H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. and President George H. W. Bush visit U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia on Thanksgiving Day, 1990. The United States assembled a coalition of forces to join it in opposing Iraq's aggression, consisting of forces from 34 countries: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Kuwait, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Spain, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States itself.44 Although they did not contribute any forces, Japan and Germany made financial contributions totaling $10 billion and $6.6 billion respectively. U.S. troops represented 73% of the coalition’s 956,600 troops in Iraq. Many of the coalition forces were reluctant to join. Some felt that the war was an internal Arab affair, or did not want to increase U.S. influence in the Middle East. In the end, however, many nations were persuaded by Iraq’s belligerence towards other Arab states, offers of economic aid or debt forgiveness, and threats to withhold aid.45 Reasons and campaign for intervention Cheney meets with Prince Sultan, Minister of Defence and Aviation in Saudi Arabia to discuss how to handle the invasion of Kuwait The United States and the United Nations gave several public justifications for involvement in the conflict, the most prominent being the Iraqi violation of Kuwaiti territorial integrity. In addition, the United States moved to support its ally Saudi Arabia, whose importance in the region, and as a key supplier of oil, made it of considerable geopolitical importance. Shortly after the Iraqi invasion, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney made the first of several visits to Saudi Arabia where King Fahd requested US military assistance. During a speech in a special joint session of the U.S. Congress given on 11 September 1990, U.S. President George H. W. Bush summed up the reasons with the following remarks: "Within three days, 120,000 Iraqi troops with 850 tanks had poured into Kuwait and moved south to threaten Saudi Arabia. It was then that I decided to act to check that aggression."46 The Pentagon claimed that satellite photos showing a buildup of Iraqi forces along the border were the source of this information, but this was later shown to be false. A reporter for the Saint Petersburg Times acquired commercial satellite images made at the time in question, which showed nothing but empty desert.47 Gen. Colin Powell (left), Gen. Schwarzkopf, and Paul Wolfowitz (right) listen as Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney addresses reporters regarding the 1991 Gulf War. Other justifications for foreign involvement included Iraq’s history of human rights abuses under President Saddam. Iraq was also known to possess biological weapons and chemical weapons, which Saddam had used against Iranian troops during the Iran–Iraq War and against his own country's Kurdish population in the Al-Anfal Campaign. Iraq was also known to have a nuclear weapons program. Although there were human rights abuses committed in Kuwait by the invading Iraqi military, the ones best known in the U.S. were inventions of the public relations firm hired by the government of Kuwait to influence U.S. opinion in favor of military intervention. Shortly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the organisation Citizens for a Free Kuwait was formed in the U.S. It hired the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton for about $11 million, paid by the Kuwaiti government.48 Among many other means of influencing U.S. opinion (distributing books on Iraqi atrocities to U.S. soldiers deployed in the region, 'Free Kuwait' T-shirts and speakers to college campuses, and dozens of video news releases to television stations), the firm arranged for an appearance before a group of members of the U.S. Congress in which a woman identifying herself as a nurse working in the Kuwait City hospital described Iraqi soldiers pulling babies out of incubators and letting them die on the floor.

The story was an influence in tipping both the public and Congress towards a war with Iraq: six Congressmen said the testimony was enough for them to support military action against Iraq and seven Senators referenced the testimony in debate. The Senate supported the military actions in a 52-47 vote. A year after the war, however, this allegation was revealed to be a fabrication. The woman who had testified was found to be a member of the Kuwaiti Royal Family, in fact the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S.49 She had not been living in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion. The details of the Hill & Knowlton public relations campaign, including the incubator testimony, were published in a John R. MacArthur's Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War (Berkeley, CA: University of CA Press, 1992), and came to wide public attention when an Op-ed by MacArthur was published in the New York Times. This prompted a reexamination by Amnesty International, which had originally promoted an account alleging even greater numbers of babies torn from incubators than the original fake testimony. After finding no evidence to support it, the organization issued a retraction. President George H. W. Bush then repeated the incubator allegations on television. At the same time, the Iraqi army committed several well-documented crimes during its occupation of Kuwait, such as the summary execution without trial of three brothers after which their bodies were stacked in a pile and left to decay in a public street.50 Iraqi troops also ransacked and looted private Kuwaiti homes, one residence was repeatedly defecated in.51 A resident later commented, "The whole thing was violence for the sake of violence, destruction for the sake of destruction... Imagine a surrealistic painting by Salvador Dalí".52 Early battles Air campaign Main article: Gulf War air campaign An F-14A Tomcat from VF-32, two EA-6B Prowlers, and a KC-135 Stratotanker during Desert Storm. The Persian Gulf War started with an extensive aerial bombing campaign on 17 January 1991. The coalition flew over 100,000 sorties, dropping 88,500 tons of bombs,53 and widely destroying military and civilian infrastructure.54 The air campaign was commanded by USAF Lieutenant General Chuck Horner, who briefly served as Commander-in-Chief - Forward of U.S. Central Command while General Schwarzkopf was still in the United States. A day after the deadline set in Resolution 678, the coalition launched a massive air campaign, which began the general offensive codenamed Operation Desert Storm. The first priority for Coalition forces was the destruction of the Iraqi air force and anti-aircraft facilities. The sorties were launched mostly from Saudi Arabia and the six Coalition aircraft carrier battle groups (CVBG) in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. An Iraqi T-54A or Type 59 tank lies in ruins in the aftermath of an Allied bombing attack during Operation Desert Storm. The next coalition targets were command and communication facilities. Saddam Hussein had closely micromanaged the Iraqi forces in the Iran–Iraq War, and initiative at lower levels was discouraged. Coalition planners hoped that Iraqi resistance would quickly collapse if deprived of command and control. The third and largest phase of the air campaign targeted military targets throughout Iraq and Kuwait: Scud missile launchers, weapons research facilities, and naval forces. About one-third of the Coalition airpower was devoted to attacking scuds, some of which were on trucks and therefore difficult to locate. Some U.S. and British special forces teams had been covertly inserted into western Iraq to aid in the search and destruction of Scuds. Iraqi antiaircraft defenses, including MANPADS, were surprisingly ineffective against coalition aircraft and the coalition suffered only 75 aircraft losses in over 100,000 sorties, 44 of which were the result of Iraqi action. Two of these losses are the result of aircraft colliding with the ground while evading Iraqi ground fired weapons.5556 One of these losses is a confirmed air-air victory.57 Iraq launches missile strikes Scud Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL) with missile in upright position. The Iraqi government made no secret that it would attack Israel if invaded. Prior to the start of the war, Tariq Aziz, Iraq's English-speaking Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, was asked in the aftermath of the failed U.S.-Iraq peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland by a reporter. “Mr. Foreign Minister, if war starts...will you attack Israel?” the reporter asked. His response was, “Yes, absolutely, yes.”5859 Five hours after the first attacks, Iraq's state radio broadcast a voice identified as Saddam Hussein declaring that "The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun. The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins." Iraq responded by launching eight Al Hussein missiles into Israel the next day. These missile attacks on Israel were to continue throughout the six weeks of the war. The Iraqis hoped that they would provoke a military response from Israel. It was expected that many Arab nations would withdraw from the coalition, as they would be reluctant to fight alongside Israel.32 Israel, at the request of the United States, did not launch counterstrikes, and all Arab states remained in the coalition. The Scud missiles targeting Israel were relatively ineffective, as firing at extreme range resulted in a dramatic reduction in accuracy and payload. Israeli civilians taking shelter from rockets Two Israeli civilians died from these attacks, and approximately 230 were injured. Of the reported injuries, 10 were considered moderate injuries, while one was considered a severe injury.10 Several others suffered fatal heart attacks immediately following the missile strikes. Extensive property damage was also caused. It was also feared that Iraq would fire missiles filled with nerve agents or sarin. As a result, the Israeli government issued gas masks to its citizens. When the first Iraqi missiles hit Tel Aviv, some people injected themselves with an antidote for nerve gas. Israel was ready to respond with military force to these attacks, but agreed when asked not to by the U.S. Government, who feared that if Israel became involved, the other Arab nations would either desert from the coalition or join Iraq. It was also feared that if the Israeli Air Force used Syrian or Jordanian airspace to attack Iraq, then they would intervene in the war on Iraq's side or attack Israel. Israeli policy for the previous forty years had always been retaliation, but Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir showed restraint and agreed not to retaliate in response to requests from the United States to remain out of the conflict.60 Military personnel examine the tail section of an Al Hussein missile shot down by a Patriot Missile during Operation Desert Storm 1991. In response to the threat of Scuds on Israel, the United States rapidly sent a Patriot missile air defense artillery battalian to Israel along with two batteries of MIM-104 Patriot missiles for the protection of civilians.61 Allied air forces were also extensively exercised in "Scud hunts" in the Iraqi desert, trying to locate the camouflaged trucks before they fired their missiles at Israel or Saudi Arabia. The Royal Netherlands Air Force also deployed Patriot missiles in both Turkey and Israel to counter the Scud threat. The Dutch Ministry of Defense later stated that the military use of the Patriot missile system was largely ineffective, but its psychological value was high.62 It has been suggested that the sturdy construction techniques used in Israeli cities, coupled with the fact that Scuds were only launched at night, played an important role in limiting the number deaths and injuries from Scud attacks.10 Three Scud missiles and a coalition Patriot that malfunctioned hit Ramat Gan in Israel on 22 January 1991, injuring 96 people, and possibly causing the deaths of three elderly people who died of heart attacks. Forty-two Scud missiles were fired by Iraq into Israel during the seven weeks of the war.63 In addition, 44 Scud missiles were fired into Saudi Arabia, and one missile was fired at Bahrain and another at Qatar. The missiles were fired at both military and civilian targets. One Saudi civilian was killed, and 65 others were injured. No injuries were reported in Bahrain or Qatar. On 25 February 1991, a Scud missile hit a U.S. Army barracks of the 14th Quartermaster Detachment, out of Greensburg, PA, stationed in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 soldiers and injuring over 100.11 Battle of Khafji This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008) Main article: Battle of Khafji Military operations during liberation of Khafji On 29 January Iraqi forces attacked and occupied the lightly defended Saudi city of Khafji with tanks and infantry. The Battle of Khafji ended two days later when the Iraqis were driven back by the Saudi Arabian National Guard and the United States Marine Corps, supported by Qatari forces. The allied forces provided close air support and used extensive artillery fire. Casualties were heavy on both sides, although Iraqi forces sustained substantially more dead and captured than the allied forces. Eleven Americans were killed in two separate friendly fire incidents, an additional 14 U.S. airmen were killed when an American AC-130 gunship was shot down by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile (SAM), and two American soldiers were captured during the battle. Saudi and Qatari forces had a total of 18 dead. Iraqi forces in Khafji had 60–300 dead and 400 captured. Khafji was a strategically important city immediately after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqi reluctance to commit several armored divisions to the occupation, and its subsequent use of Khafji as a launching pad into the initially lightly defended east of Saudi Arabia is considered by many academics a grave strategic error. Not only would Iraq have secured a majority of Middle Eastern oil supplies, but it would have found itself better able to threaten the subsequent U.S. deployment along superior defensive lines. Ground campaign Ground troop movements 24–28 February 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. The Coalition forces dominated the air with their technological advantages, but the ground forces were considered to be more evenly matched. Coalition forces had the significant advantage of being able to operate under the protection of air supremacy that had been achieved by their air forces before the start of the main ground offensive. Coalition forces also had two key technological advantages: The Coalition main battle tanks, such as the U.S. M1 Abrams, British Challenger 1, and Kuwaiti M-84AB were vastly superior to the Chinese Type 69 and domestically built T-72 tanks used by the Iraqis, with crews better trained and armoured doctrine better developed. The use of GPS made it possible for Coalition forces to navigate without reference to roads or other fixed landmarks. This, along with air reconnaissance, allowed them to fight a battle of maneuver rather than a battle of encounter: they knew where they were and where the enemy was, so they could attack a specific target rather than searching on the ground for enemy forces. Liberation of Kuwait Main article: Liberation of Kuwait campaign See also: Gulf War order of battle ground campaign American decoy attacks by air attacks and naval gunfire the night before the liberation of Kuwait were designed to make the Iraqis believe the main coalition ground attack would focus on Central Kuwait. US tanks from the 3rd Armored Division along the Line of Departure. Iraqi Type 69 tank on the road into Kuwait City during the Gulf War. Two Iraqi tanks lie abandoned near Kuwait City on 26 February 1991. For months, American units in Saudi Arabia had been under almost constant Iraqi artillery fire, as well as threats from Scud missile or chemical attacks. On 23 February 1991, the 1st Marine Division, 2nd Marine Division, and the 1st Light Armored Infantry crossed into Kuwait and headed toward Kuwait City. They encountered trenches, barbed wire, and minefields. However, these positions were poorly defended, and were overrun in the first few hours. Several tank battles took place, but apart from that, Coalition troops encountered minimal resistance, as most Iraqi troops surrendered. The general pattern was that the Iraqis would put up a short fight before surrendering. However, Iraqi air defenses shot down nine American aircraft. Meanwhile, forces from Arab countries advanced into Kuwait from the east, encountering little resistance and suffering few casualties. Despite the successes of Coalition forces, it was feared that the Republican Guard would escape into Iraq before it could be destroyed. It was decided to send British armored forces into Kuwait fifteen hours ahead of schedule, and to send American forces after the Republican Guard. The Coalition advance was preceded by a heavy artillery and rocket barrage, after which 150,000 troops and 1,500 tanks began their advance. Iraqi forces in Kuwait counterattacked against U.S. troops, acting on a direct order from Saddam himself. Despite the intense combat, the Americans repulsed the Iraqis and continued to advance towards Kuwait city.

Kuwaiti forces were tasked with liberating the city. Iraqi troops offered only light resistance. The Kuwaitis lost one soldier killed and one plane shot down, and quickly liberated the city. On 27 February, Saddam ordered a retreat from Kuwait. However, an Iraqi unit at Kuwait International Airport appeared not to have gotten the message, and fiercely resisted. U.S. Marines had to fight for hours before securing the airport, after which Kuwait was declared secure. After four days of fighting, Iraqi forces were expelled from Kuwait. As part of a scorched-earth policy, they set fire to nearly 700 oil wells, and placed land mines around the wells to make extinguishing the fires more difficult. Initial moves into Iraq Iraqi Tank knocked out by 3rd Armored Division fire. The ground phase of the war was given the official designation Operation Desert Sabre.64 The first units to move into Iraq were three patrols of the B squadron of the British Special Air Service, call signs Bravo One Zero, Bravo Two Zero, and Bravo Three Zero, in late January. These eight-man patrols landed behind Iraqi lines to gather intelligence on the movements of Scud mobile missile launchers, which could not be detected from the air, as they were hidden under bridges and camouflage netting during the day. Other objectives included the destruction of the launchers and their fiber-optic communications arrays that lay in pipelines and relayed coordinates to the TEL operators that were launching attacks against Israel. The operations were designed to prevent any possible Israeli intervention. Elements of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Battallion 5th Cav of the 1st Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army performed a Direct attack into Iraq on 15 February 1991, followed by one in force on 20 February that led directly through 7 iraqi divisions which were caught off guard.citation needed From 15–20 February, the Battle of Wadi Al-Batin took place inside Iraq, this was the first of two attacks by 1 Battalion 5th Cavalry of the 1st Cavalry Division. It was a feint attack, designed to make the Iraqis think that a coalition invasion would take place from the south. The Iraqis fiercely resisted, and the Americans eventually withdrew as planned back into the Wadi Al-Batin. Three American soldiers were killed and nine wounded as well with only 1 M-2 IFV turreet was destroyed only, but they had taken 40 prisoners and destroyed five tanks, and successfully deceived the Iraqis. This attack lead the way for the XVIII Airborne Corp to sweep around behind the 1st Cav and attack iraqi forces to the west. On 22 February 1991, Iraq agreed to a Soviet-proposed ceasefire agreement. The agreement called for Iraq to withdraw troops to pre-invasion positions within six weeks following a total cease-fire, and called for monitoring of the cease-fire and withdrawal to be overseen by the UN Security Council. The Coalition rejected the proposal, but said that retreating Iraqi forces would not be attackedcitation needed, and gave twenty-four hours for Iraq to begin withdrawing forces. On 23 February, fighting resulted in the capture of 500 Iraqi soldiers. On 24 February, British and American armoured forces crossed the Iraq/Kuwait border and entered Iraq in large numbers, taking hundreds of prisoners. Iraqi resistance was light, and 4 Americans were killed.65 Coalition forces enter Iraq Destroyed Iraqi civilian and military vehicles on the Highway of Death. Aerial view of destroyed Iraqi T-72 tank, BMP-1 and Type 63 armored personnel carriers and trucks on Highway 8 in March 1991 The oil fires caused were a result of the scorched earth policy of Iraqi military forces retreating from Kuwait Shortly afterwards, the U.S. VII Corps in full strength and, spearheaded by the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (3/2 ACR), launched an armored attack into Iraq early on 24 February, just to the west of Kuwait, taking Iraqi forces by surprise. Simultaneously, the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps launched a sweeping “left-hook” attack across the largely undefended desert of southern Iraq, led by the 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment (3rd ACR) and the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized). The left flank of this movement was protected by the French 6th Light Armoured Division Daguet. The French force quickly overcame the Iraqi 45th Infantry Division, suffering light casualties and taking a large number of prisoners, and took up blocking positions to prevent an Iraqi counter-attack on the Coalition flank. The right flank of the movement was protected by the British 1st Armoured Division. Once the allies had penetrated deep into Iraqi territory, they turned eastward, launching a flank attack against the elite Republican Guard before it could escape. The Iraqis resisted fiercely from dug-in positions and stationary vehicles, and even mounted armored charges. Unlike many previous engagements, the destruction of the first Iraqi tanks did not result in a mass surrender. The Iraqis suffered massive losses and lost dozens of tanks and vehicles, while American casualties were comparatively low, with a single Bradley knocked out. Coalition forces pressed another ten kilometers into Iraqi territory, and captured their objective within three hours. They took 500 prisoners and inflicted heavy losses, defeating the Iraqi 26th Infantry Division. An American soldier was killed by an Iraqi land mine, another five by friendly fire, and thirty wounded during the battle. Meanwhile, British forces attacked the Iraqi Medina Division and a major Republican Guard logistics base. In nearly two days of some of the war's most intense fighting, the British destroyed 40 enemy tanks and captured a division commander. Meanwhile, American forces attacked the village of Al Busayyah, meeting fierce resistance. They suffered no casualties, but destroyed a considerable amount of military hardware and took prisoners. On 25 February 1991, Iraqi forces fired a scud missile at an American barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The missile attack killed 28 American military personnel.66 The Coalition advance was much swifter than U.S. generals had expected. On 26 February, Iraqi troops began retreating from Kuwait, after they had set its oil fields on fire (737 oil wells were set on fire). A long convoy of retreating Iraqi troops formed along the main Iraq-Kuwait highway. Although they were retreating, this convoy was bombed so extensively by Coalition air forces that it came to be known as the Highway of Death. Hundreds of Iraqi troops were killed. Forces from the United States, the United Kingdom, and France continued to pursue retreating Iraqi forces over the border and back into Iraq, eventually moving to within 150 miles (240 km) of Baghdad before withdrawing from the Iraqi border. One hundred hours after the ground campaign started, on 28 February, President Bush declared a ceasefire, and he also declared that Kuwait had been liberated. Post-war military analysis This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008) Although it was said in Western media at the time that Iraqi troops numbered approximately 545,000 to 600,000, most experts today believe that both the qualitative and quantitative descriptions of the Iraqi army at the time were exaggerated, as they included both temporary and auxiliary support elements. Many of the Iraqi troops were young, under-resourced, and poorly trained conscripts. The Coalition committed 540,000 troops, and a further 100,000 Turkish troops were deployed along the Turkish-Iraqi border. This caused a significant force dilution of the Iraqi military by forcing it to deploy its forces along all its borders. This allowed the main thrust by the U.S. to possess not only a significant technological advantage, but also a numerical superiority. The widespread support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war equipped Iraq with military equipment from most major world arms dealers. This resulted in a lack of standardization in this large heterogeneous force, which additionally suffered from poor training and poor motivation. The majority of Iraqi armored forces still used old Chinese Type 59s and Type 69s, Soviet-made T-55s from the 1950s and 1960s, and some poor quality Asad Babil tanks (domestically assembled tank based on Polish T-72 hulls with other parts of mixed origin). These machines were not equipped with up-to-date equipment, such as thermal sights or laser rangefinders, and their effectiveness in modern combat was very limited. The Iraqis failed to find an effective countermeasure to the thermal sights and sabot rounds used by the Coalition tanks. This equipment enabled them to engage and destroy Iraqi tanks from more than three times the range that Iraqi tanks could engage coalition tanks. The Iraqi crews used old, cheap steel penetrators against the advanced Chobham Armour of the U.S. and British tanks, with ineffective results. The Iraqis also failed to utilize the advantage that could be gained from using urban warfare — fighting within Kuwait City — which could have inflicted significant casualties on the attacking forces. Urban combat reduces the range at which fighting occurs, and can negate some of the technological advantages of well-equipped forces. The Iraqis also tried to use Soviet military doctrine, but the implementation failed due to the lack of skill of their commanders, and the preventive coalition air strikes on communication centers and bunkers. Iraqi Type 69 main battle tank stands on a battlefield after being destroyed by Allied forces during Operation Desert Storm. Iraqi Type 69 tank near Kuwait City during the Gulf War. Iraqi tank sits on a road after being abandoned during the Gulf War. Iraqi T-62 destroyed near Ali Al Salem Air Base during Operation Desert Storm, 18 April 1991. Destroyed Iraqi T-72 tanks in Southern Iraq. General Colin Powell briefs then U.S. President George H. W. Bush and his advisors on the progress of the ground war. Aerial view of oil wells on fire. Kuwaiti oil wells on fire. An oil storage tank at a refinery that was attacked by coalition aircraft during Operation Desert Storm continues to burn days after the air strike. US M1 Abrams move out on a mission during the Gulf War. M1A1 lost to friendly fire during Gulf War. Iraqi Type 69 tanks after an attack by the 1st United Kingdom Armored Division during Operation Desert Storm. Iraqi Type 69 tank after engagement by the 1st United Kingdom Armored Division. An Iraqi main battle tank at Al Mutla Pass, destroyed by Army Tiger Brigade forces and air strikes during Operation Desert Storm. The end of active hostilities Civilians and coalition military forces wave Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian flags as they celebrate the retreat of Iraqi forces from Kuwait as a result of Operation Desert Storm In Iraqi territory that was occupied by the coalition, a peace conference was held where a ceasefire agreement was negotiated and signed by both sides. At the conference, Iraq was approved to fly armed helicopters on their side of the temporary border, ostensibly for government transit due to the damage done to civilian infrastructure. Soon after, these helicopters and much of the Iraqi armed forces were used to fight a Shi'ite uprising in the south. The rebellions were encouraged by an airing of "The Voice of Free Iraq" on 2 February 1991, which was broadcast from a CIA run radio station out of Saudi Arabia. The Arabic service of the Voice of America supported the uprising by stating that the rebellion was large, and that they soon would be liberated from Saddam.67 In the North, Kurdish leaders took American statements that they would support an uprising to heart, and began fighting, hoping to trigger a coup d'état. However, when no American support came, Iraqi generals remained loyal to Saddam and brutally crushed the Kurdish uprising. Millions of Kurds fled across the mountains to Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iran. These events later resulted in no-fly zones being established in both the North and the South of Iraq. In Kuwait, the Emir was restored, and suspected Iraqi collaborators were repressed. Eventually, over 400,000 people were expelled from the country, including a large number of Palestinians, due to PLO support of Saddam Hussein. Yasser Arafat did not apologize for his support of Iraq, but after his death the Fatah under the authority of Abbas would formally apologize in 2004.68 There was some criticism of the Bush administration, as they chose to allow Saddam Hussein to remain in power instead of pushing on to capture Baghdad and overthrowing his government. In their co-written 1998 book, A World Transformed, Bush and Brent Scowcroft argued that such a course would have fractured the alliance, and would have had many unnecessary political and human costs associated with it.

In 1992, the United States Secretary of Defense during the war, Dick Cheney, made the same point: I would guess if we had gone in there, we would still have forces in Baghdad today. We'd be running the country. We would not have been able to get everybody out and bring everybody home. And the final point that I think needs to be made is this question of casualties. I don't think you could have done all of that without significant additional U.S. casualties, and while everybody was tremendously impressed with the low cost of the (1991) conflict, for the 146 Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it wasn't a cheap war. And the question in my mind is, how many additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is, not that damned many. So, I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the President made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq.69 – Dick Cheney Instead of a greater involvement of its own military, the United States hoped that Saddam Hussein would be overthrown in an internal coup d'état. The Central Intelligence Agency used its assets in Iraq to organize a revolt, but the Iraqi government defeated the effort. On 10 March 1991, 540,000 American troops began to move out of the Persian Gulf. Coalition involvement Coalition troops from Egypt, Syria, Oman and Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. Main article: Coalition of the Gulf War Members of the Coalition included Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America.70 Germany and Japan provided financial assistance and donated military hardware, but did not send direct military assistance. This later became known as checkbook diplomacy. United Kingdom British Army Challenger 1 main battle tank during Operation Desert Storm. The United Kingdom committed the largest contingent of any European nation that participated in the combat operations of the war. Operation Granby was the codename for the operations in the Persian Gulf. British Army regiments (mainly with the British 1st Armoured Division), Royal Air Force squadrons and Royal Navy vessels were mobilized in the Gulf. The Royal Air Force, using various aircraft, operated from airbases in Saudi Arabia. Almost 2,500 armoured vehicles and 43,000 troops70 were shipped for action. Chief Royal Navy vessels deployed to the gulf included a number of Broadsword-class frigates, and Sheffield-class destroyers, other RN and RFA ships were also deployed. The light aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal was not deployed to the Gulf area, but was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea. France French and American soldiers inspecting an Iraqi Type 69 tank destroyed by the French 6th Light Armored Division during Operation Desert Storm. The second largest European contingent was France, which committed 18,000 troops.70 Operating on the left flank of the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps, the main French army force was the 6th Light Armoured Division, including troops from the French Foreign Legion. Initially, the French operated independently under national command and control, but coordinated closely with the Americans, Saudis and CENTCOM. In January, the Division was placed under the tactical control of the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps. France also deployed several combat aircraft and naval units. The French called their contribution Opération Daguet. Canada Canadian CF-18 Hornets participated in combat during the Gulf War. See also: Operation FRICTION Canada was one of the first nations to condemn Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and it quickly agreed to join the U.S.-led coalition. In August 1990, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney committed the Canadian Forces to deploy the destroyers HMCS Terra Nova and HMCS Athabaskan to join the maritime interdiction force. The supply ship HMCS Protecteur was also sent to aid the gathering coalition logistics forces in the Persian Gulf. A fourth ship, HMCS Huron, arrived in-theater after hostilities had ceased and visited Kuwait. Following the UN authorized use of force against Iraq, the Canadian Forces deployed a CF-18 Hornet squadron with support personnel, as well as a field hospital to deal with casualties from the ground war. When the air war began, Canada's CF-18s were integrated into the coalition force and were tasked with providing air cover and attacking ground targets. This was the first time since the Korean War that the Canadian military had participated in offensive combat operations. Australia HMAS Sydney in the Persian Gulf in 1991. Main article: Australian contribution to the 1991 Gulf War Australia contributed a Naval Task Group, which formed part of the multi-national fleet in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, under Operation Damask. In addition, medical teams were deployed aboard a U.S. hospital ship, and a naval clearance diving team took part in de-mining Kuwait’s port facilities following the end of combat operations. Australia was a member of the international coalition which contributed military forces to the 1991 Persian Gulf War. While the Australian forces did not see combat, they did play a significant role in enforcing the sanctions put in place against Iraq following the invasion of Kuwait, as well as other small support contributions to Operation Desert Storm. Following the end of the Persian Gulf War, Australia deployed a medical unit on Operation Habitat to northern Iraq as part of Operation Provide Comfort. Casualties Civilian The increased importance of air attacks from both warplanes and cruise missiles led to much controversy over the number of civilian deaths caused during the initial stages of the war. Within the first 24 hours of the war, more than 1,000 sorties were flown, many against targets in Baghdad. The city was the target of heavy bombing, as it was the seat of power for President Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi forces' command and control. This ultimately led to substantial civilian casualties. During the bombing campaign prior to the ground war, many aerial attacks led to civilian casualties. In one particularly notable incident, stealth planes bombed a bunker in Amirya, causing the deaths of 200-400 civilians, who were taking refuge there at the time. Scenes of burned and mutilated bodies were subsequently broadcast, and controversy raged over the status of the bunker, with some stating that it was a civilian shelter, while others contended that it was a center of Iraqi military operations, and that the civilians had been deliberately moved there to act as human shields. An investigation by Beth Osborne Daponte estimated civilian fatalities at about 3,500 from bombing, and some 100,000 from other effects of the war.717273 Iraqi The exact number of Iraqi combat casualties is unknown, but it is believed to have been heavy. Some estimate that Iraq sustained between 20,000 and 35,000 fatalities.71 A report commissioned by the U.S. Air Force, estimated 10,000-12,000 Iraqi combat deaths in the air campaign, and as many as 10,000 casualties in the ground war.74 This analysis is based on Iraqi prisoner of war reports. Saddam Hussein's government gave high civilian casualty figures in order to draw support from the Islamic countries.citation needed The Iraqi government claimed that 2,300 civilians died during the air campaign.citation needed According to the Project on Defense Alternatives study, 3,664 Iraqi civilians, and between 20,000 and 26,000 military personnel, were killed in the conflict, while 75,000 Iraqi soldiers were wounded.75 Coalition Patriot missile launch. The DoD reports that U.S. forces suffered 148 battle-related deaths (35 to friendly fire), with one pilot listed as MIA (his remains were found and identified in August 2009). A further 145 Americans died in non-combat accidents.76 The UK suffered 47 deaths (9 to friendly fire), France two, and the Arab countries, not including Kuwait, suffered 37 deaths (18 Saudis, 10 Egyptians, 6 UAE, and 3 Syrians).76 At least 605 Kuwaiti soldiers were still missing 10 years after their capture.77 The largest single loss of life among Coalition forces happened on 25 February 1991, when an Iraqi Al Hussein (missile) hit an American military barrack in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 28 U.S. Army Reservists from Pennsylvania. In all, 190 coalition troops were killed by Iraqi fire during the war, 113 of whom were American, out of a total of 358 coalition deaths. Another 44 soldiers were killed, and 57 wounded, by friendly fire. 145 soldiers died of exploding munitions, or non-combat accidents.citation needed The number of coalition wounded in combat seems to have been 776, including 458 Americans.78 However, as of the year 2000, 183,000 U.S. veterans of the Gulf War, more than a quarter of the U.S. troops who participated in War, have been declared permanently disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs.7980 About 30% of the 700,000 men and women who served in U.S. forces during the Gulf War still suffer an array of serious symptoms whose causes are not fully understood.81 A column of M-113 APCs and other military vehicles of the Royal Saudi Land Force travels along a channel cleared of mines during Operation Desert Storm, Kuwait, 1 March 1991. 190 Coalition troops were killed by Iraqi combatants, the rest of the 379 coalition deaths being from friendly fire or accidents. This number was much lower than expected. Among the American dead were three female soldiers. This is a list of Coalition troops killed by country.  United States - 294 (114 by enemy fire, 145 in accidents, 35 to friendly fire)  United Kingdom - 47 (38 by enemy fire, 9 to friendly fire)  Saudi Arabia - 1882  Egypt - 283  United Arab Emirates - 684  Syria - 285  France - 2  Kuwait - 1 (as part of Operation Desert Storm)86 Friendly fire While the death toll among Coalition forces engaging Iraqi combatants was very low, a substantial number of deaths were caused by accidental attacks from other allied units. Of the 148 American troops who died in battle, 24% were killed by friendly fire, a total of 35 service personnel. A further 11 died in detonations of allied munitions. Nine British service personnel were killed in a friendly fire incident when a United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II attacked a group of two Warrior IFVs. Gulf War controversies Gulf War Illness Main article: Gulf War syndrome Many returning coalition soldiers reported illnesses following their participation in the Gulf War, a phenomenon known as Gulf War syndrome or Gulf War illness. There has been widespread speculation and disagreement about the causes of the illness and the reported birth defects. Some factors considered as possibilities include exposure to depleted uranium, chemical weapons, anthrax vaccines given to deploying soldiers, and/or infectious diseases. Major Michael Donnelly, a former USAF officer during the Gulf War, helped publicize the syndrome and advocated for veterans' rights in this regard. Effects of depleted uranium Approximate area and major clashes in which DU rounds were used. Main article: Depleted uranium#Health considerations Depleted uranium (DU) was used in the Gulf War in tank kinetic energy penetrators and 20–30 mm cannon ordnance. DU is a pyrophoric, genotoxic, and teratogenic heavy metal. Many have cited its use during the Gulf War as a contributing factor to a number of instances of health issues in both veterans of the conflict and surrounding civilian populations. However, scientific opinion on the risk is mixed.878889 Highway of Death Main article: Highway of Death On the night of 26–27 February 1991, some Iraqi forces began leaving Kuwait on the main highway north of Al Jahra in a column of some 1,400 vehicles. A patrolling E-8 Joint STARS aircraft observed the retreating forces and relayed the information to the DDM-8 air operations center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.90 These vehicles and the retreating soldiers were subsequently attacked, resulting in a 60 km stretch of highway strewn with debris—the Highway of Death. Chuck Horner, Commander of U.S. and allied air operations has written: [By February 26], the Iraqis totally lost heart and started to evacuate occupied Kuwait, but airpower halted the caravan of Iraqi Army and plunderers fleeing toward Basra. This event was later called by the media "The Highway of Death." There were certainly a lot of dead vehicles, but not so many dead Iraqis. They'd already learned to scamper off into the desert when our aircraft started to attack. Nevertheless, some people back home wrongly chose to believe we were cruelly and unusually punishing our already whipped foes.

[...] By February 27, talk had turned toward terminating the hostilities. Kuwait was free. We were not interested in governing Iraq. So the question became "How do we stop the killing."91 Bulldozer assault Another incident during the war highlighted the question of large-scale Iraqi combat deaths. This was the “bulldozer assault”, wherein two brigades from the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) were faced with a large and complex trench network, as part of the heavily fortified "Saddam Hussein Line." After some deliberation, they opted to use anti-mine plows mounted on tanks and combat earthmovers to simply plow over and bury alive the defending Iraqi soldiers. One newspaper story reported that the U.S. commanders estimated thousands of Iraqi soldiers surrendered, escaping live burial during the two-day assault 24–25 February 1991. Patrick Day Sloyan of Newsday reported, "Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Vulcan armored carriers straddled the trench lines and fired into the Iraqi soldiers as the tanks covered them with mounds of sand. 'I came through right after the lead company,' [Col. Anthony] Moreno said. 'What you saw was a bunch of buried trenches with peoples' arms and things sticking out of them. . .'" 92 However, after the war, the Iraqi government claimed to have found only 44 bodies.93 In his book The Wars Against Saddam, John Simpson alleges that U.S. forces attempted to cover up this incident.94 Killing of unarmed Iraqi Soldiers At the March–April 1991 European Parliament hearings on the Gulf War, Mike Erlich of the Military Counseling Network stated: "Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Iraqi soldiers began walking toward the U.S. position unarmed, with their arms raised in an attempt to surrender. However, the orders for this unit were not to take any prisoners. . . . The commander of the unit began the firing by shooting an anti-tank missile through one of the Iraqi soldiers. This is a missile designed to destroy tanks, but it was used against one man. At that point, everybody in the unit began shooting...quite simply, it was a slaughter."95 Coalition bombing of Iraq's civilian infrastructure In the 23 June 1991, edition of the Washington Post, reporter Bart Gellman wrote: "Many of the targets were chosen only secondarily to contribute to the military defeat of [Iraq]. . . . Military planners hoped the bombing would amplify the economic and psychological impact of international sanctions on Iraqi society. . . . They deliberately did great harm to Iraq's ability to support itself as an industrial society. . . ."96 In the Jan/Feb, 1995 edition of Foreign Affairs, French diplomat Eric Rouleau wrote: "[T]he Iraqi people, who were not consulted about the invasion, have paid the price for their government's madness. . . . Iraqis understood the legitimacy of a military action to drive their army from Kuwait, but they have had difficulty comprehending the Allied rationale for using air power to systematically destroy or cripple Iraqi infrastructure and industry: electric power stations (92 percent of installed capacity destroyed), refineries (80 percent of production capacity), petrochemical complexes, telecommunications centers (including 135 telephone networks), bridges (more than 100), roads, highways, railroads, hundreds of locomotives and boxcars full of goods, radio and television broadcasting stations, cement plants, and factories producing aluminum, textiles, electric cables, and medical supplies."97 Abuse of coalition POWs During the conflict coalition aircrew shot down over Iraq were displayed as POWs on TV, most with visible signs of abuse. Amongst several testimonies to poor treatment,98 Royal Air Force Tornado crew John Nichol and John Peters have both alleged that they were tortured during this time.99100 Nichol and Peters were forced to make statements against the war in front of television cameras. A British Special Forces group named Bravo Two Zero were captured whilst providing imformation about an Iraqi Supply line of Scud Missiles to coalition forces, only one, Chris Ryan, evaded capture whilst other members of the group were violently tortured. (ref: The One that Got away by Chris Ryan & Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab) Operation Southern Watch Main article: Operation Southern Watch Since the Gulf war, the U.S. has had a continued presence of 5,000 troops stationed in Saudi Arabia - a figure that rose to 10,000 during the 2003 conflict in Iraq.101 Operation Southern Watch enforced the no-fly zones over southern Iraq set up after 1991, and the country's oil exports through the shipping lanes of the Persian Gulf are protected by the U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain. Since Saudi Arabia houses the holiest sites in Islam (Mecca and Medina) — many Muslims were upset at the permanent military presence. The continued presence of U.S. troops after the Gulf War in Saudi Arabia was one of the stated motivations behind the September 11th terrorist attacks,101 the Khobar Towers bombing, as well, the date chosen for the 1998 United States embassy bombings (7 August), was eight years to the day that American troops were sent to Saudi Arabia.102 Bin Laden interpreted the Prophet Muhammad as banning the "permanent presence of infidels in Arabia".103 In 1996, Bin Laden issued a fatwa, calling for American troops to get out of Saudi Arabia. In the December 1999 interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai, bin Laden said he felt that Americans were "too near to Mecca" and considered this a provocation to the entire Muslim world.104 Gulf war sanctions Main articles: United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 and Iraq sanctions Wikisource has original text related to this article: United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 On 6 August 1990, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 661 which imposed economic sanctions on Iraq, providing for a full trade embargo, excluding medical supplies, food and other items of humanitarian necessity, these to be determined by the Security Council sanctions committee. From 1991 until 2003 the effects of government policy and sanctions regime led to hyperinflation, widespread poverty and malnutrition. During the latter part of the 1990s the UN considered relaxing the sanctions imposed because of the hardships suffered by ordinary Iraqis. According to UN estimates, between 500,000 and 1.2 million children died during the years of the sanctions.105 The United States used its veto in the UN Security Council to block the proposal to lift the sanctions because of the continued failure of Iraq to verify disarmament. However, an oil for food program was established in 1996 to ease the effects of sanctions. Draining of the Qurna Marshes Main article: Draining of the Qurna Marshes The draining of the Qurna Marshes was an irrigation project in Iraq during and immediately after the Gulf War, to drain a large area of marshes in the Tigris-Euphrates river system. Formerly covering an area of around 3000 square kilometres, the large complex of wetlands were almost completely emptied of water, and the local Shi'ite population relocated, following the Gulf War and 1991 uprisings. By 2000, United Nations Environment Programme estimated that 90% of the marshlands had disappeared, causing desertification of over 7,500 square miles (19,000 km2).citation needed Many international organizations such as the U.N. Human Rights Commission, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the International Wildfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau, and Middle East Watch have described the project as a political attempt to force the Marsh Arabs out of the area through water diversion tactics.106 Gulf War oil spill Main article: Gulf War oil spill On 23 January, Iraq dumped 400 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf, causing the largest offshore oil spill in history at that time.107 It was reported as a deliberate natural resources attack to keep U.S. Marine forces from coming ashore (Missouri and Wisconsin had shelled Failaka Island during the war to reinforce the idea that there would be an amphibious assault attempt).citation needed About 30-40% of this came from Allied raids on Iraqi coastal targets.108 Kuwaiti oil fires Main article: Kuwaiti oil fires The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by Iraqi military forces setting fire to 700 oil wells as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991 after conquering the country but being driven out by Coalition military forces. The fires started in January and February 1991 and the last one was extinguished by November 1991.109 The resulting fires burned out of control because of the dangers of sending in firefighting crews. Land mines had been placed in areas around the oil wells, and a military cleaning of the areas was necessary before the fires could be put out. Somewhere around 6 million barrels (950,000 m3) of oil were lost each day. Eventually, privately contracted crews extinguished the fires, at a total cost of US$1.5 billion to Kuwait.110 By that time, however, the fires had burned for approximately ten months, causing widespread pollution. Cost The cost of the war to the United States was calculated by the United States Congress to be $61.1 billion.111 About $52 billion of that amount was paid by different countries around the world: $36 billion by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf States; $16 billion by Germany and Japan (which sent no combat forces due to their constitutions). About 25% of Saudi Arabia's contribution was paid in the form of in-kind services to the troops, such as food and transportation.111 U.S. troops represented about 74% of the combined force, and the global cost was therefore higher. Media coverage The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (January 2010) The Persian Gulf War was a heavily televised war. For the first time people all over the world were able to watch live pictures of missiles hitting their targets and fighters taking off from aircraft carriers. Allied forces were keen to demonstrate the accuracy of their weapons. In the United States, the "big three" network anchors led the network news coverage of the war: ABC's Peter Jennings, CBS's Dan Rather, and NBC's Tom Brokaw were anchoring their evening newscasts when air strikes began on 16 January 1991. ABC News correspondent Gary Shepard, reporting live from Baghdad, told Jennings of the quietness of the city. But, moments later, Shepard was back on the air as flashes of light were seen on the horizon and tracer fire was heard on the ground. On CBS, viewers were watching a report from correspondent Allen Pizzey, who was also reporting from Baghdad, when the war began. Rather, after the report was finished, announced that there were unconfirmed reports of flashes in Baghdad and heavy air traffic at bases in Saudi Arabia. On the "NBC Nightly News", correspondent Mike Boettcher reported unusual air activity in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Moments later, Brokaw announced to his viewers that the air attack had begun. Still, it was CNN which gained the most popularity for their coverage, and indeed its wartime coverage is often cited as one of the landmark events in the development of the network. CNN correspondents John Holliman and Peter Arnett and CNN anchor Bernard Shaw relayed audio reports from the Al-Rashid Hotel as the air strikes began. The network had previously convinced the Iraqi government to allow installation of a permanent audio circuit in their makeshift bureau. When the telephones of all of the other Western TV correspondents went dead during the bombing, CNN was the only service able to provide live reporting. After the initial bombing, Arnett remained behind and was, for a time, the only American TV correspondent reporting from Iraq. Newspapers all over the world also covered the war and Time magazine published a special issue dated 28 January 1991, the headline "WAR IN THE GULF" emblazoned on the cover over a picture of Baghdad taken as the war began. U.S. policy regarding media freedom was much more restrictive than in the Vietnam War. The policy had been spelled out in a Pentagon document entitled Annex Foxtrot. Most of the press information came from briefings organized by the military. Only selected journalists were allowed to visit the front lines or conduct interviews with soldiers. Those visits were always conducted in the presence of officers, and were subject to both prior approval by the military and censorship afterward. This was ostensibly to protect sensitive information from being revealed to Iraq. This policy was heavily influenced by the military's experience with the Vietnam War, in which public opposition within the United States grew throughout the course of the war. It wasn't only the limiting of information in the Middle East, media were also restricting what was shown about the war with more graphic depictions like Ken Jarecke's image of a burnt Iraqi soldier being pulled from the American AP wire where as in Europe it was given extensive coverage.112113114

At the same time, the coverage of this war was new in its instantaneousness. About halfway through the war, Iraq's government decided to allow live satellite transmissions from the country by Western news organizations, and U.S. journalists returned en masse to Baghdad. Tom Aspell of NBC, Bill Blakemore of ABC, and Betsy Aaron of CBS News filed reports, subject to acknowledged Iraqi censorship. Throughout the war, footage of incoming missiles was broadcast almost immediately. A British crew from CBS News (David Green and Andy Thompson), equipped with satellite transmission equipment traveled with the front line forces and, having transmitted live TV pictures of the fighting en route, arrived the day before the forces in Kuwait City, broadcasting live television from the city and covering the entrance of the Arab forces the following day. Alternative media outlets provided views in opposition to the Gulf War. Deep Dish Television compiled segments from independent producers in the U.S. and abroad, and produced a ten hour series that was distributed internationally, called The Gulf Crisis TV Project. The first program of this series War, Oil and Power was compiled and released in 1990, before the war broke out. News World Order was the title of another program in the series; it focused on the complicity of the media in promoting the war, as well as Americans' reactions to the media coverage. In San Francisco, as a local example, Paper Tiger Television West produced a weekly cable television show with highlights of mass demonstrations, artists' actions, lectures, and protests against mainstream media coverage at newspaper offices and television stations. Local media outlets in cities across the country screened similar oppositional media. The organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) critically analyzed media coverage during the Gulf War in various articles and books, such as the 1991 Gulf War Coverage: The Worst Censorship was at Home.115 Technology The USS Missouri launches a Tomahawk missile. The Gulf War was the last conflict in which battleships were deployed in a combat role (as of 2011) Precision-guided munitions, such as the United States Air Force guided missile AGM-130, were heralded as key in allowing military strikes to be made with a minimum of civilian casualties compared to previous wars, although they were not used as often as more traditional, less accurate bombs. Specific buildings in downtown Baghdad could be bombed whilst journalists in their hotels watched cruise missiles fly by. Precision-guided munitions amounted to approximately 7.4% of all bombs dropped by the coalition. Other bombs included cluster bombs, which disperse numerous submunitions,116 and daisy cutters, 15,000-pound bombs which can disintegrate everything within hundreds of yards. Global Positioning System units were important in enabling coalition units to navigate easily across the desert. Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) and satellite communication systems were also important. Two examples of this is the U.S. Navy E-2 Hawkeye and the U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry. Both were used in command and control area of operations. These systems provided essential communications links between the ground forces, air forces, and the navy. It is one of the many reasons why the air war was dominated by the Coalition Forces. Scud and Patriot missiles The role of Iraq's Scud missiles featured prominently in the war. Scud is a tactical ballistic missile that the Soviet Union developed and deployed among the forward deployed Red Army divisions in East Germany. The role of the Scuds which were armed with nuclear and chemical warheads was to destroy command, control, and communication facilities and delay full mobilisation of Western German and Allied Forces in Germany. It could also be used to directly target ground forces. Scud missiles utilise inertial guidance which operates for the duration that the engines operate. Iraq used Scud missiles, launching them into both Saudi Arabia and Israel. Some missiles caused extensive casualties, while others caused little damage. Concerns were raised of possible chemical or biological warheads on these rockets, but if they existed they were not used. Scud missiles are not as effective at delivering chemical payloads as is commonly believed because intense heat during the Scud's flight at approximately Mach 5 denatures most of the chemical payload.citation needed Chemical weapons are inherently better suited to being delivered by cruise missiles or fighter bombers. The Scud is best suited to delivering tactical nuclear warheads, a role for which it is as capable today as it was when it was first developed. The U.S. Patriot missile was used for the first time in combat. The U.S. military claimed a high effectiveness against Scudscitation needed at the time. Later estimates of the Patriot's effectiveness range widely due to the fact initial testing proved less confidence inspiring than real life combat testing.citation needed The Dutch Ministry of Defense (The Netherlands also sent Patriot missiles to protect civilians in Israel and Turkey), for example, later disputed this claim.62 Further, there is at least one incident of a software error causing a Patriot missile's failure to engage an incoming Scud, resulting in deaths.117 Unclassified evidence on Scud interception is lacking. The higher estimates are based on the percentage of Scud warheads which were knowncitation needed to have impacted and exploded compared to the number of Scud missiles launched, but other factors such as duds, misses and impacts which were not reported confound these. Some Scud variations were re-engineered in a manner outside their original tolerance, and saidcitation needed to have frequently failed or broken up in flight. The lowest estimates are typicallycitation needed based upon the number of interceptions where there is proof that the warhead was hit by at least one missile, but due to the way the Al-Hussein (Scud derivative) missiles broke up in flightcitation needed, it was often hard to tell which piece was the warhead, and there were few radar tracks which were actually stored which could be analyzed later. Their performance will not be known for many years.original research? Both the U.S. Army and the missile manufacturers maintain the Patriot delivered a "miracle performance" in the Gulf War.118 Alternate names for the Gulf War The following names have been used to describe the conflict itself: Gulf War and Persian Gulf War have been the most common terms for the conflict used within the Western countries. These names have been used by the overwhelming majority of popular historians and journalists in the United States. The major problem with these terms is that the usage is ambiguous, having now been applied to at least three conflicts: see Gulf War (disambiguation). With no consensus of naming, various publications have attempted to refine the name. Some variants include: War in the Gulf 1990 Gulf War Gulf War (1990–1991) Gulf War Sr. First Gulf War: to distinguish it from the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Second Gulf War: to distinguish it from the Iran–Iraq War. Liberation of Kuwait (taḥrīr al-Kuwayt) is the term used by Kuwait and most of the Arab state members of the Coalition Forces including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. War of Kuwait and Second Gulf War appear to be the names commonly used in France119 and Germany.120 Mother of Battles (Umm al-Ma'arik) is the term used by Iraq. Other names sometimes used include Iraq-Kuwait conflict and UN-Iraq conflict. Operational Names Most of the Coalition Force countries used various names for their operations and operational phases of the war. These are sometimes incorrectly used as the overall name of the conflict, especially the US Desert Storm: Operation Desert Shield was the US operational name for the US buildup of forces and the defense of Saudi Arabia from 2 August 1990, to 16 January 1991. Operation Desert Storm was the US name of the airland conflict from 17 January 1991, through 11 April 1991. Opération Daguet was the French name for the conflict. Operation FRICTION was the name of the Canadian operations Operazione Locusta (Italian for Locust) was the Italian name for the operations and conflict. Operation Granby was the British name for its armed forces' activities during the operations and conflict. Operation Desert Farewell was the name given to the return of US units and equipment to the United States in 1991 after the liberation of Kuwait, sometimes referred to as Operation Desert Calm. Operation Desert Sabre was the US name for the airland offensive against the Iraqi Army in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations (the "100-hour war") from 24–28 February 1991, in itself, part of Operation Desert Storm. Operation Desert Sword was an early name for Operation Desert Sabre. In addition, various phases of each operation may have a unique operational name. Campaigns The US divided the conflict into three major campaigns: Defense of Saudi Arabia for the period 2 August 1990, through 16 January 1991. Liberation and Defense of Kuwait for the period 17 January 1991, through 11 April 1991. Southwest Asia Cease-Fire for the period 12 April 1991, through 30 November 1995, including Operation Provide Comfort. See also Gulf War military awards Iraq disarmament crisis timeline 1990-1996, 1997-2000, 2001-2003 Iraq–Russia relations Lion of Babylon tank List of Gulf War military equipment Operation Simoom SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, Iraq 1973–1990 Timeline of the Gulf War Regional wars: List of conflicts in the Middle East List of modern conflicts in the Middle East General: Loss of Strength Gradient Military history of the United States Post-World War II air-to-air combat losses Notes and references ^ "Historical Events on 30th November". Historyorb.com. http://www.historyorb.com/events/november/30. Retrieved 2010-03-18.  ^ "Den 1. Golfkrig". Forsvaret.dk. 2010-09-24. http://www.forsvaret.dk/SOK/Internationalt/Tidligere/Golf1/Pages/default.aspx. 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Pbs.org. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/war/4.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.  ^ a b "US pulls out of Saudi Arabia". BBC News. 29 April 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2984547.stm. Retrieved 29 November 2009.  ^ Plotz, David (2001) What Does Osama Bin Laden Want?, Slate ^ Bergen, Peter L. (2001). Holy War Inc.. Simon & Schuster. p. 3.  ^ Yusufzai, Rahimullah (26 September 2001). "Face to face with Osama". London: The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2008-01-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20080119011449/http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,558075,00.html. Retrieved 30 June 2010.  ^ "Iraq surveys show 'humanitarian emergency'". Wednesday, 12 August 1999. http://www.unicef.org/newsline/99pr29.htm. Retrieved 29 November 2009.  ^ "Marsh Arabs". http://www1.american.edu/ted/marsh.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-01.  ^ "Duke Magazine-Oil Spill-After the Deluge, by Jeffrey Pollack-Mar/Apr 2003". Dukemagazine.duke.edu. http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/030403/oil1.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.  ^ Leckie, Robert (1998). The Wars of America. Castle Books.  ^ Wellman, Robert Campbell (14 February 1999). ""Iraq and Kuwait: 1972, 1990, 1991, 1997." Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change". U.S. Geological Survey. http://earthshots.usgs.gov. http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Iraq/Iraqtext. Retrieved 27 July 2010.  ^ Husain, T. (1995). Kuwaiti Oil Fires: Regional Environmental Perspectives. Oxford: BPC Wheatons Ltd. p. 68.  ^ a b "How much did the Gulf War cost the US?". People.psych.cornell.edu. 1997-05-20. http://people.psych.cornell.edu/~fhoran/gulf/GW_cost/GW_payments.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.  ^ Lori Robertson (2007). "Images of War". AJR. http://www.ajr.org/article_printable.asp?id=3759. Retrieved 2007-07-20.  ^ Ken Jarecke's account to the BBC World Service programme (May 9, 2005). "Picture power: Death of an Iraqi soldier". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4528745.stm. Retrieved October 14, 2010.  ^ Lucas, Dean (2007). "Famous Pictures Magazine - Iraqi Soldier". Famous Pictures Magazine. http://www.famouspictures.org/mag/index.php?title=Iraqi_Soldier. Retrieved 2007-07-20.  ^ Naureckas, Jim (2010). "Gulf War Coverage: The Worst Censorship Was at Home". Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1518. Retrieved October 14, 2010.  ^ "Dumb Bombs". Fas.org. http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/cluster.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-18.  ^ "The Patriot Missile Failure". Ima.umn.edu. http://www.ima.umn.edu/~arnold/disasters/patriot.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.  ^ "Conclusions" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2005-10-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20051029074640/http://www.ceip.org/files/projects/npp/resources/georgetown/PatriotPaper.pdf. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  ^ fr:Guerre du Koweït (1990-1991) ^ de:Golfkrieg, de:Zweiter Golfkrieg Bibliography (French)(English) Guy Lebègue, (trad. Robert J. Amral), « Gulf War : Military satellites, the Lesson », in Revue aerospatiale, n°79, June 1991. Arbuthnot, Felicity (17 September 2000). "Allies Deliberately Poisoned Iraq Public Water Supply In Gulf War". Scotland: Sunday Herald. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/091700-01.htm. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Atkinson, Rick; Devroy, Ann (31 July 1998). "U.S. Claims Iraqi Nuclear Reactors Hit Hard". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/fogofwar/archive/post012091.htm. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Austvik, Ole Gunnar (1993). "The War Over the Price of Oil". International Journal of Global Energy Issues. http://www.kaldor.no/energy/glob9205.htm.  Bard, Mitchell. "The Gulf War". Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Gulf_War.html. Retrieved 25 May 2009.  Barzilai, Gad (1993). Klieman, Aharon and Shidlo, Gil. ed. The Gulf Crisis and Its Global Aftermath. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-08002-9.  Blum, William (1995). Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. Common Courage Press. ISBN 1-56751-052-3. Archived from the original on 2008-01-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20080123202318/http://members.aol.com/bblum6/iraq2.htm. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Bolkom, Christopher; Pike, Jonathan. "Attack Aircraft Proliferation: Areas for Concern". http://www.fas.org/spp/aircraft/part08.htm. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Brown., Miland. "First Persian Gulf War". Archived from the original on 2007-01-21. http://web.archive.org/web/20070121233845/http://www.libraryreference.org/gulfwar.html.  Forbes, Daniel (15 May 2000). "Gulf War crimes?". Salon Magazine. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/05/15/hersh/. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Hawley., T. M. (1992). Against the Fires of Hell: The Environmental Disaster of the Gulf War. New York u.a.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-103969-0.  Hiro, Dilip (1992). Desert Shield to Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War. Routledge. ISBN 9780415906579.  Clancy, Tom; Horner, Chuck (1999). Every Man a Tiger: The Gulf War Air Campaign. Putnam. ISBN 9780399144936. http://books.google.com/?id=-LRtAAAAMAAJ.  Hoskinson, Ronald Andrew; Jarvis, Norman (1994). "Gulf War Photo Gallery". http://www.hoskinson.net/gulfwar/. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Kepel, Gilles (2002). "From the Gulf War to the Taliban Jihad / Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam".  Latimer, Jon (2001). Deception in War. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5605-8.  Little, Allan (1 December 1997). "Iraq coming in from the cold?". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/from_our_own_correspondent/newsid_34000/34588.stm. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Lowry, Richard S (2003 and 2008). "The Gulf War Chronicles". iUniverse. http://www.gwchronicles.com.  MacArthur, John. "Independent Policy Forum Luncheon Honoring". http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/LIE/HK/HK_IRAQ.html. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Makiya, Kanan (1993). Cruelty and silence : war, tyranny, uprising, and the Arab World. W.W. Norton. ISBN 9780393031089  Moise, Edwin. "Bibliography: The First U.S. - Iraq War: Desert Shield and Desert Storm (1990-1991)". http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/EdMoise/iraqbib.html#first. Retrieved 21 March 2009.  Munro, Alan (2006). Arab Storm: Politics and Diplomacy Behind the Gulf War. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1-84511-128-1.  Naval Historical Center (15 May 1991). "The United States Navy in Desert Shield/Desert Storm". http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/dstorm/. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Wright, Steven (2007). The United States and Persian Gulf Security: The Foundations of the War on Terror. Ithaca Press. ISBN 978-0863723216.  Niksch, Larry A; Sutter, Robert G (23 May 1991). "Japan's Response to the Persian Gulf Crisis: Implications for U.S.-Japan Relations". Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/permalink/meta-crs-8. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Roberts, Paul William (1998). The demonic comedy : some detours in the Baghdad of Saddam Hussein. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374138233.  Sifry, Micah; Cerf, Christopher (1991). The Gulf War Reader. New York, NY: Random House. ISBN 0-8129-1947-5.  Smith, Jean Edward (1992). George Bush's War. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 9780805013887.  Turnley, Peter (December 2002). "The Unseen Gulf War (photo essay)". http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0212/pt_intro.html. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Walker, Paul; Stambler, Eric (1991). "...and the dirty little weapons". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Vol 47, Number 4. Archived from the original on 2007-02-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20070203181115/www.thebulletin.org/error404.html. Retrieved 30 June 2010.  Frank, Andre Gunder (20 May 1991). "Third World War in the Gulf: A New World Order". Political Economy Notebooks for Study and Research, no. 14, pp. 5-34. http://rrojasdatabank.info/agfrank/gulf_war.html. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  PBS Frontline. "The Gulf War: an in-depth examination of the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf crisis". http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/script_b.html. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  "Report to Congress on the Conduct of the Persian Gulf War, Chapter 6". http://es.rice.edu/projects/Poli378/Gulf/gwtxt_ch6.html. Retrieved 4 December 2005.  Films about the Persian Gulf War Dawn of the World Bravo Two Zero Courage Under Fire The Finest Hour Jarhead Lessons of Darkness Live From Baghdad Heroes of Desert Storm Towelhead Three Kings The Manchurian Candidate (2004 film) Used as a back drop for the film, The Big Lebowski. It is frequently discussed as well. Used in retconned backstory for The Punisher (2004 film) Novels about the Gulf War Braving the Fear - The True Story of Rowdy US Marines in the Gulf War (by Douglas Foster) Glass (Pray the Electrons Back to Sand) The Fist of God (by Frederick Forsyth) To Die In Babylon by Nick Livingston Hogs dime novel series by James Ferro Burning Desert by Zahida Zaidi Bravo Two Zero - The true story of an SAS Patrol behind enemy lines in Iraq (by Andy McNab) Summer 1990 Firyal AlShalabi Video games related to the Gulf War Operation: Desert Storm (1991) Patriot (1991) Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf (1992) Super Battletank (1992) Gulf War: Operation Desert Hammer (1999) Conflict: Desert Storm (2002) Desert Combat Battlefield 1942 mod (2002?) Conflict: Desert Storm 2 (2003) Silent Thunder (computer game) (1998?) Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (2010), used during Sam Fisher's flashback as a Navy SEAL. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gulf War (1990-1991) Website about the french Daguet Division Gulf War Guide - Iraq, U.S., UK Operation Desert storm War site with special features on the war Saddam Hussein & the invasion of Kuwait. CBC Digital Archives - The 1991 Gulf War Master Index of Desert Storm Oral History Interviews by the United States Army Center of Military History Bibliography of the Desert Shield and Desert Storm compiled by the United States Army Center of Military History Persian Gulf War v · d · eGulf War Invasion of Kuwait

Battle of Dasman Palace · The Battle of the Bridges · UN Resolution 660 Coalition Invasion UN Resolution 661 · Coalition · Iraq-United States relations · Carter Doctrine · Military equipment Battles Air Campaign · "Package Q" Air Strike · Khafji · Wadi Al-Batin · 67 Easting · 73 Easting · Al Busayyah · Phase Line Bullet · Medina Ridge · 2nd Kuwait · Highway of Death · Jalibah · Norfolk · Rumaila · Safwan Aftermath Operation Southern Watch · Iraq sanctions · Kuwaiti oil fires · 1991 uprisings in Iraq · Draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes · Gulf War oil spill · Depleted uranium · Gulf War syndrome · Awards · Operation Provide Comfort Outline Timeline of the conflict · Disarmament timeline v · d · e Iraq topics Society Iraqi people (Iraqi diaspora · Assyrian diaspora · Kurds · Assyrians · Chaldeans · Madan · Turkmen · Mandaeans) • Demographics • Languages (Arabic · Kurdish · Neo-Aramaic · Turkmen · Mandaic) • Religion (Islam · Christianity · Mandaeism · Judaism) • Education • Health • Sports • Music • Cuisine · Law History Ancient Iraq (Sumer · Akkad · Babylonia · Assyria · Neo-Assyrian Empire · Neo-Babylonian Empire · Achaemenid Assyria · Seleucid Empire · Parthian Empire · Sassanid Empire · Asuristan) • Islamic conquest of Iraq • Abbasid Caliphate • Ottoman Iraq • British Mandate of Mesopotamia • Kingdom of Iraq • Republic of Iraq • Saddam Hussein • Iran–Iraq War • Invasion of Kuwait  • Persian Gulf War • Sanctions • U.S. invasion of Iraq • Occupation of Iraq • Iraqi Resistance • Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq Economy Iraqi Dinar • Stock Exchange • Central Bank • Oil reserves • Media Infrastructure Communications • Transportation • Schools • Hospitals • Roads • Reconstruction Government Constitution • Legislative branch  • Executive branch (President · Council of Ministers · Prime Minister) • Judiciary • Government since 2006 • Police · Security forces (Army · Navy · Air Force) Politics Political parties • Minority politics • Elections • Foreign relations • Human rights • Foreign aid • War conflicts • Democracy • Flag Geography Tigris • Euphrates • Fertile Crescent • Governorates • Districts • Notable Places • Syrian Desert • Zagros Mountains • Umm Qasr • Al-Faw Peninsula • Shatt al-Arab • Al-Jazira • Mesopotamian Marshes • Lake Habbaniyah • Lake Tharthar • Lake Hammar • Lake Milh Iraq Portal v · d · eMajor armed conflicts involving the United States Armed Forces Internal Shays' Rebellion · Whiskey Rebellion · Dorr Rebellion · Mormon War · Bleeding Kansas · Utah War · Civil War · Indian Wars · Brooks–Baxter War · Battle of Blair Mountain · Bonus Army International Revolutionary War · Quasi-War · First Barbary War · War of 1812 · Second Barbary War · Sumatran Expeditions · Mexican–American War · Second Opium War · Spanish–American War · Philippine–American War · Boxer Rebellion · Banana Wars · Border War · World War I · Russian Civil War · World War II · Korean War · Vietnam War · Invasion of the Dominican Republic · Invasion of Grenada · Invasion of Panama · Gulf War · Somali Civil War · Bosnian War · Kosovo War · War in Afghanistan · Iraq War · War in North-West Pakistan · Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown Related articles List of conflicts in the U.S. · List of wars involving the U.S. · Timeline of U.S. military operations · Length of U.S. participation in major wars · Overseas expansion · Military history · Covert regime-change actions · Casualties of war v · d · eArab–Israeli conflict v · d · eParticipants in the Arab–Israeli conflict Governments Egypt • Iraq • Israel • Jordan • Lebanon • Palestinian National Authority • Saudi Arabia • Syria • Yemen Active organizations Amal • al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades •  Arab League • Arab Liberation Front • Ba'ath Party • Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine • Fatah • Guardians of the Cedars • Hamas • Hezbollah • Jaish al-Islam • Kataeb • Lebanese Forces • Palestinian Islamic Jihad • Palestine Liberation Front • Palestine Liberation Organisation • Palestinian Popular Struggle Front • Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine • Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command • Popular Resistance Committees • as-Saiqa Formerly active organizations South Lebanon Army • Arab Higher Committee • Arab Liberation Army • Holy War Army • Irgun (Etzel) • Lehi • Black Hand • Black September Other governments Iran • Norway • Turkey • Russia • United Kingdom • United States • Venezuela Other organizations European Union • United Nations Former states British Mandate of Palestine • Soviet Union • United Arab Republic v · d · ePeople involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict Lester B. Pearson • Abd al-Hakim Amer • Hosni Mubarak • Gamal Abdel Nasser • Anwar Sadat • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad • Ali Khamenei • Ruhollah Khomeini • Faisal I • Saddam Hussein • Ehud Barak • Menachem Begin • David Ben-Gurion • Moshe Dayan • Levi Eshkol • Golda Meir • Benjamin Netanyahu • Ehud Olmert • Shimon Peres • Yitzhak Rabin • Yitzhak Shamir • Ariel Sharon • Chaim Weizmann • King Abdullah I • King Abdullah II • King Hussein • Emile Lahoud • Hassan Nasrallah • Fouad Siniora • Recep Tayyip Erdogan • Mona Juul • Johan Jørgen Holst • Terje Rød-Larsen • Mahmoud Abbas • Yasser Arafat • Marwan Barghouti • George Habash • Ismail Haniya • Amin al-Husayni • Khaled Mashal • Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi • Ahmed Shukeiri • Ahmed Yassin • King Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud) • King Abdullah • King Fahd • King Faisal • Folke Bernadotte • Hafez al-Assad • Bashar al-Assad • Shukri al-Quwatli • Salah Jadid • Ernest Bevin • Arthur Balfour • Tony Blair • Richard Crossman • Madeleine Albright • Ralph Bunche • George H. W. Bush • George W. Bush • Jimmy Carter • Bill Clinton • Henry Kissinger • Ronald Reagan • Condoleezza Rice • Dennis Ross • Harry S. Truman • Cyrus R. Vance v · d · eArab-Israeli conflict engagements Before 1947 1920 Nebi Musa riots · 1921 Jaffa riots · 1929 Hebron–Safed riots · 1933 Palestine riots · 1936–1939 Arab revolt · 1938–1948 British–Zionist conflict (not related with Arabs) 1947–1949 1947 Jerusalem riots · 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine · 1948–1949 Arab–Israeli War 1950s 1950s terrorism against Israel · Fedayeen · Retribution operations 1953 Qibya massacre · 1954 Operation Susannah · 1956 Suez Crisis 1960s 1962–1970 Operations Porcupine and Gravy (North Yemen Civil War) · 1964–1967 War over Water · 1966 Samu incident · 1967 Six-Day War · 1967–1970 War of Attrition · 1968 Battle of Karameh · 1968 Operation Gift 1969 Cherbourg Project 1970s 1970 Black September in Jordan · 1972 Sabena Flight 571 (Operation Isotope) · 1972 Operation Crate 3 · 1972 Munich Olympics massacre · 1972–1979 Operation Wrath of God (Airstrike · Spring of Youth) · 1973 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 · 1973 Yom Kippur War · 1974 Ma'alot massacre · 1975 Savoy Operation · 1975–1990 Lebanese Civil War · 1976 Operation Entebbe · 1978 Coastal Road massacre · 1978 Operation Litani 1980s 1980 Misgav Am hostages rescue · 1981 Operation Opera · 1982 Lebanon War · 1982–2000 South Lebanon conflict · 1984 Kav 300 affair · 1985 PLO ships bombing · 1985 Operation Wooden Leg · 1987–1990 First Intifada · 1988 Tunis raid · 1989 Sheik Abdul-Karim Obeid kidnapping 1990s 1991 Gulf War · 1992 Operation Bramble Bush · 1992 Abbas al-Musawi killing · 1993–2008 List of Palestinian suicide attacks · 1993 Lebanon war · 1994 Airstrike on Lebanon · 1994 Mustafa Dirani kidnapping · 1994 Waxman rescue attempt · 1996 Lebanon war 2000s 2000–2005 Al-Aqsa Intifada (Second Intifada) · 2000 October events · 2000–2006 Shebaa Farms conflict · 2001–present Rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel (2001-2006 · 2007 · 2008 · Gaza War · 2009 · 2010 · 2011) · 2001 Santorini · 2002 Operation Noah's Ark · 2002 Operation Defensive Shield (Jenin · Nablus · Bethlehem) · 2002–present West Bank barrier · 2002 Operation Determined Path · 2003 Abu Hassan · 2003 Ain es Saheb airstrike · 2004 Israel–Gaza conflict (Operation Rainbow · Operation Days of Penitence) · 2005 Operation Shevet Ahim · 2006–present Fatah–Hamas conflict · 2006 Operation Bringing Home the Goods · 2006 Israel–Gaza conflict (Operation Autumn Clouds) · 2006 Lebanon War · 2007–present Lebanese rockets · 2007–2008 Israel–Gaza conflict (Operation Hot Winter) · 2007 Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip · 2007–present Blockade of the Gaza Strip · 2007 Operation Orchard · 2008–2009 Gaza War · 2009 Sudan airstrikes · 2009 Francop affair (Operation Four Species) 2010s 2010 Gaza flotilla raid (ships · participants · reactions · legal assessments) · 2010 Adaisseh skirmish · 2010 Hamas terror campaign v · d · eDiplomacy and peace proposals in the Arab–Israeli conflict Damascus Protocol • McMahon–Hussein Correspondence • Sykes–Picot Agreement • 1917 Balfour Declaration • Declaration to the Seven • Anglo-French Declaration • 1919 Faisal-Weizmann Agreement • 1920 San Remo conference • 1922 Churchill White Paper • 1939 White Paper • 1947 UN Partition Plan • 1948 Establishment of Israel • 1948 UNGA Resolution 194 • 1949 Armistice Agreements • 1964 Palestinian National Covenant • 1967 Khartoum Resolution • 1967 UNSC Resolution 242 • 1973 UNSC Resolution 338 • 1973 UNSC Resolution 339 • 1974 UNSC Resolution 350 • 1978 UNSC Resolution 425 • 1978 Camp David Accords • 1979 UNSC Resolution 446 • 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty • 1979 UNSC Resolution 452 • 1980 UNSC Resolution 478 • 1981 UNSC Resolution 497 • 1983 Israel-Lebanon agreement • 1991 Madrid Conference • 1993 Oslo Accords • 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace • 1998 Wye River Memorandum • 2000 Camp David Summit • 2000 Clinton's Parameters • 2001 Taba Summit • 2001 UNSC Resolution 1373 • 2002 Beirut Summit and Peace Initiative • 2002 Road map for peace • 2003 Geneva Accord • 2004 UNSC Resolution 1559 • 2004 UNSC Resolution 1566 • 2005 UNSC Resolution 1583 • 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh Summit • 2005 Israel's unilateral disengagement plan • 2006 Palestinian Prisoners' Document • 2006 UNSC Resolution 1701 • 2007 Annapolis Conference • 2010 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks