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Timeline of the Gulf War (1990–1991)

The timeline of the Gulf War details the dates of the major events of the 1990–1991 war. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 and ended with the Liberation of Kuwait by Coalition forces. Iraq subsequently agreed to the United Nations' demands on 28 February 1991. The ground war officially concluded with the signing of the armistice on 11 April 1991. However, the official end to Operation Desert Storm did not occur until sometime between 1996 - 1998. Major events in the aftermath include anti-Saddam Hussein uprisings in Iraq, massacres against the Kurds by the regime, Iraq formally recognizing the sovereignty of Kuwait in 1994, and eventually ending its cooperation with the United Nations Special Commission in 1998.[1][2][3][4][5]

Prelude 1990

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1990–1991

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1990

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Iraqi T-72 tanks in Kuwait City.

1991

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  • 9 January: United States Secretary of State James Baker meets Foreign Minister of Iraq Tariq Aziz at the Geneva Conference in Hotel InterContinental. No solution is reached.
  • January 12: U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq and Kuwait. The votes were 52–47 in the U.S. Senate and 250–183 in the House of Representatives. These were the closest margins in authorizing force by the U.S. Congress since the War of 1812.
  • 12 January: United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar meets Saddam Hussein in Baghdad but does not reach an agreement with the Government of Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.
  • 12 January: Soviet special envoy Yevgeny Primakov meets with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad to discuss the possible Coalition invasion of Kuwait.
  • 15 January: Saddam Hussein announces that Iraq will consider withdrawing its troops from Kuwait under some conditions.
  • 15 January: 580,000 Coalition troops are stationed in the Gulf region, opposing 540,000 Iraqi troops.
  • 15 January: First U.S. government statement relating to Operation Desert Storm is made.
  • 15 January: Iraq ignores all UN resolutions.
  • 16 January: Coalition forces led by the U.S. start deploying to Kuwait via the Persian Gulf and the Saudi Arabian border, triggering the first official infantry combat.
  • 16 January: President George H. W. Bush addresses the nation from the Oval Office on the beginning of US-Led Coalition forces strikes at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm.[7]
  • 17 January: Foreign Minister of Iraq Tariq Aziz meets President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow where they discuss the Soviet peace plan.
  • 17 January: Operation Desert Storm is launched and the first air attacks are launched on Iraq and Kuwait.
  • 18 January, 01:00 GMT: Iraq fires 12 Scud missiles at the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv, slightly injuring 12 people. The United States tells Israel to not retaliate, out of fear that it will escalate the war and trigger the collapse of the Arab Coalition. The U.S. deploys Patriot SAM systems to Israel and Saudi Arabia.
  • 21 January: Foreign Minister of Iraq Tariq Aziz accepts the Soviet peace plan. President Bush refuses the peace plan as unrealistic for the coalition.
  • 22 January: Iraq burns Kuwaiti oil fields. About 600 oil fields are on fire.
  • 24 January: Iraq continues to burn Kuwaiti oil fields and dumps the oil into the Persian Gulf.
  • 24 January: Coalition forces capture the small Kuwaiti island of Qaruh.
  • 25 January: Iraqi troops dump millions of gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf.
  • 29 January: United States and the Soviet Union offer a ceasefire to Iraq if it withdraws all its troops from Kuwait.
  • 29 January: Iraqi forces invade the town of Khafji in Saudi Arabia. Iraqi forces are quickly engaged by Saudi Arabian and Qatari troops with help from the U.S. Marines.
  • 30 January: Coalition starts its first land operations in Kuwait and Southern Iraq to liberate Khafji.
  • 1 February: Iraqi forces are driven out of Saudi Arabia.
  • 22 February: U.S. President George H. W. Bush issues a 24-hour ultimatum: Iraq must withdraw from Kuwait to avoid starting a ground war.
  • 24 February: U.S.-led Coalition forces invade Iraq and Kuwait at around 4 a.m. Baghdad time. Special Air Service was the first to enter Iraqi territory.
  • 25 February: 20,000 Iraqi troops surrender to the coalition. By the end of February, about 100,000 Iraqi troops will have surrendered.
  • 25 February: Iraq launches Scud missile attacks on Dhahran in Saudi Arabia which kills 28 American troops and injures 98.
  • 26 February: President of Iraq Saddam Hussein announces that Iraq will withdraw from Kuwait totally and accept the UN resolution. Saddam still does not renounce Iraqi claims over Kuwait.
  • 26 February: Anywhere from 800 to 1,000 retreating Iraqi troops are killed when coalition aircraft bombed their stolen civilian and military vehicles. This becomes known as the Highway of Death.[8]
  • 26 February: Iraqi troops flee from Kuwait City.
  • 27 February: U.S. Marines and Saudi Arabian troops enter Kuwait City.
  • 27 February: 101st Airborne Division is less than 250 km from Baghdad over Highway 8.[9]
  • 27 February: President Bush announces that the Liberation of Kuwait has started and the cessation of hostilities will end that day at 04:00 GMT.
  • 27 February: Coalition announces they have destroyed almost half of the all Iraqi divisions and 100,000 Iraqi troops have been taken as POWs.
  • 28 February: President of the United States George H. W. Bush announces the ceasefire, declaring that Kuwait is free and the Iraqi Army is defeated.
  • 28 February: Iraq announces that it will accept all UN resolutions.
  • 1 March: Half of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard tanks escape.[10]
  • 1 March: A cease-fire plan is negotiated in Safwan, Iraq.
  • 1 March: Uprising (Shia rebellion) starts in Basra.
  • 3 March: Iraq accepts the terms of a ceasefire from the U.N. Security Council.
  • 13 March: United States Secretary of State James Baker meets President of Syria Hafez Al-Assad in Damascus to discuss future Middle East issues.
  • 14 March: Anti-Saddam rebellions continue in Iraq.
  • 26 March: White House announces that Iraqi helicopters will not be shot down.[11]
  • 30 March: First Arab League summit since the Kuwaiti invasion starts in Cairo. An Iraqi delegation takes part in the summit.
  • 3 April: Iraqi army massacres Kurds in Northern Iraq.
  • 11 April: Armistice is signed between the Coalition and Iraqi Army.
  • 7 April: Kuwaiti Emir promises elections in Kuwait in 1992
  • 17 April: U.S. troops enter Northern Iraq from Turkey to protect Kurdish refugees.
  • 21 April: General Schwarzkopf returns to the U.S.[12]
  • 15 March 1991: Emir returns to Kuwait
  • May: Bush extends pre-war economic sanctions "until Saddam Hussein is out of power".[9]
  • 15 June: 29 people[clarification needed] are accused of co-operating with the Iraqi forces, and are executed in Kuwait.
  • 16 August: UN repeals some Iraqi sanctions; Iraq is allowed to produce oil, limited to about USD$1.6 billion [clarification needed] per barrel.
  • 30 August: Kuwaiti Air Force attacks Iraqi destroyer in the Persian Gulf.
  • 7 November: The final Kuwaiti oil fire is extinguished.

Aftermath

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1992

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  • 26: August: No-fly zone is established in Southern Iraq.

1993

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1994

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  • 10 November: Iraq recognizes Kuwaiti independence and acknowledge their shared border.

1995

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1996

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1998

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References

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  1. ^ Leena Hybinette (toimittaja). VUOSI 91 (in Finnish). KG Bertmark Kustannus Oy.
  2. ^ Leena Hybinette (toimittaja). VUOSI 90 (in Finnish). KG Bertmark Kustannus Oy.
  3. ^ Leena Hybinette (toimittaja) (1990). Vuoden uutistapahtumat kuvina 1990 (in Finnish). Saarijärvi: Gummerus Oy.
  4. ^ "Timeline: War in the Gulf". BBC News Middle East.
  5. ^ "BBC On This Day: 1991: Iraqi Scud missiles hit Israel". BBC. 18 January 1991.
  6. ^ "George H. W. Bush: Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the Persian Gulf Crisis and the Federal Budget Deficit". 11 September 1990.
  7. ^ "January 16, 1991: Address to the Nation on the Invasion of Iraq". millercenter.org. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Wages of War -- Appendix 2: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 1991 Gulf War". Archived from the original on 4 January 2016.
  9. ^ a b Wawro, Geoffrey (22 January 2011). "Desert Storm Turns Twenty: What Really Happened in 1991, and Why it Matters, Part II of II". Huffington Post. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  10. ^ Gordon, Michael R. (January 2013). "Victory Over Iraq in 1991 Was Swift, but Flawed". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  11. ^ Mylroie, Laurie (28 June 1992). "IRAQ'S REAL COUP". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  12. ^ "General Norman Schwarzkopf". Daily Telegraph. 28 December 2012. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
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Note 1