On February 24, 1991, Kuwait was liberated by a massive invasion of Kuwait by US coalition forces. The day after it was liberated, the bodies of Iraqi soldiers were scattered all over Kuwait. Kuwaiti soldiers raised their machine guns in a pretentious manner in front of the burnt bodies of Iraqi soldiers. By the time the Iraqi army withdrew, some 600 oil wells had gone up in flames, their huge flames scorching the horizon. The Kuwaiti capital went up in smoke. Even the natural heritage was destroyed. The flames rose to a height of tens of meters. As the wind changed direction, thick smoke covered the sky and it became night in broad daylight.
In the Gulf War, about 148 American soldiers were killed in action, and about 457 were wounded. Other allied deaths were about 100 or so in Operation Desert Storm. The casualty figures on the Iraqi side are not officially released, but it was estimated that at least about 25,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed and about 75,000 more were wounded in action. Approximately 100,000 Iraqi civilians died as a result of war injuries directly attributable to the Gulf War and lack of adequate water, food, and medical supplies. Subsequent UN Security Council sanctions resulted in the deaths of approximately one million more Iraqis.
The Gulf War broke out on August 2, 1990, when Iraqi forces invaded the neighboring oil-rich country of Kuwait. The Kuwaiti army was suddenly overwhelmed and retreated to Saudi Arabia. Within hours, Kuwait City was occupied and the Iraqis established a provisional provincial government. With the annexation of Kuwait, Iraq now controlled about 20 percent of the world's oil reserves. On the same day, August 2, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the invasion and demanded Iraq's immediate withdrawal from Kuwait; on August 6, it banned all trade with Iraq worldwide; on August 9, it banned trade with Persia.
On August 9, American forces reached the Persian Gulf and defended Saudi Arabia in Operation Desert Shield. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces increased the number of occupying troops in Kuwait to about 300,000, and on November 29, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraqi forces if they did not withdraw by January 15, 1991. On January 16, 1991, the first fighter jets were launched from a coalition aircraft carrier, launching the massive Operation Desert Storm offensive against Iraq. The bombers attacked targets in and around the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The battle was broadcast live on television via satellite. Over the next six weeks, coalition forces conducted intensive airstrikes against military and civilian facilities in Iraq. Iraqi ground forces were powerless and retaliated by firing Scud (SCUD) missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia.
On February 24, a massive coalition ground offensive erupted, rapidly overwhelming Iraq's outdated and under-supplied forces. On the same day, the Iraqi army collapsed, leaving about 10,000 Iraqi soldiers as prisoners of war, and Kuwait was liberated. Most of the Iraqi army either surrendered or retreated back into Iraq and were destroyed. on February 28, the US military declared a ceasefire. on April 3, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 687, formally ending the conflict. On April 6, Iraq accepted the UN resolution, and on April 11, the Security Council declared Resolution 687 in effect. Over the next decade, Iraqi forces frequently violated the peace agreement, and the allies continued to be bombed and UN sanctioned.
