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Oman Persian Gulf War, 1991
Despite its huge losses in the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq was
unchallenged as the most powerful military presence in the
gulf
area. Reviving Iraq's old territorial claims against
Kuwait,
Saddam Husayn called for the annexation of Bubiyan and
Warbah
islands at the mouth of the Shatt al Arab to give Iraq a
clear
passage to the gulf. He also accused Kuwait of illegally
siphoning off oil from Ar Rumaylah field, one of the
world's
largest oil pools, which the two countries shared. Saddam
Husayn
threatened to use force against Arab oil producers,
including
Kuwait and the UAE, that exceeded their oil quotas,
charging them
with colluding with the United States to strangle the
Iraqi
economy by flooding the market with low-priced oil.
Although Iraq had accompanied its threats by moving
troops to
the border area, the world was largely taken by surprise
when, on
August 2, 1990, the Iraqi army invaded and occupied
Kuwait. A
force of about 120,000 soldiers and approximately 2,000
tanks and
other armored vehicles met little resistance. The Kuwaiti
army
was not on the alert, and those troops at their posts
could not
mount an effective defense. Some aircraft operating from
southern
Kuwait attacked Iraqi armored columns before their air
base was
overrun, and they sought refuge in Saudi Arabia. Of the
20,000
Kuwaiti troops, many were killed or captured, although up
to
7,000 escaped into Saudi Arabia, along with about forty
tanks.
Having completed the occupation of Kuwait, the Iraqi
armored
and mechanized divisions and the elite Republican Guard
advanced
south toward Kuwait's border with Saudi Arabia.
Intelligence
sources indicated that the Iraqis were positioning
themselves for
a subsequent drive toward the Saudi oil fields and
shipping
terminals, possibly continuing toward the other gulf
states.
In the first of a series of resolutions condemning
Iraq, the
United Nations (UN) Security Council on August 2 called
for
Iraq's unconditional and immediate withdrawal from Kuwait.
In the
ensuing months, a coalition force of more than 600,000
ground,
sea, and air force personnel deployed to defend Saudi
Arabia and
to drive the Iraqis out of Kuwait. Command of the force
was
divided: commander in chief of the United States Central
Command,
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, headed United States,
British, and
French units; his Saudi counterpart, Lieutenant General
Khalid
ibn Sultan ibn Abd al Aziz Al Saud, commanded units from
twentyfour non-Western countries, including troops from Saudi
Arabia,
Egypt, Syria, Kuwait, and the other gulf states. In
addition to
20,000 Saudi troops and 7,000 Kuwaiti troops, an estimated
3,000
personnel from the other GCC states took part in the land
forces
of the coalition offensive, known as Operation Desert
Storm.
When the massive coalition ground assault of Operation
Desert
Storm got under way on February 24, 1991, troops of the
Persian
Gulf states formed part of two Arab task forces. The
first, Joint
Forces Command North, consisting of Egyptian, Saudi,
Syrian, and
Kuwaiti troops, deployed on Kuwait's western border. Joint
Forces
Command East deployed along the gulf immediately south of
Kuwait
and consisted of about five brigades (each well below the
strength of a regular Western brigade) from Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait,
Bahrain, and Qatar. The main attack was a sweeping
movement by
United States, British, and French forces in the west
designed to
cut the links between the Iraqi forces in Kuwait and their
bases
in Iraq. The Saudis and Kuwaitis on the western border of
Kuwait,
composed of about four brigades organized as the Khalid
Division,
together with an Egyptian regiment, breached Iraqi
defenses after
allied bombing and engineer operations blasted passages.
Iraqi
troops, although in strong positions, surrendered or
streamed to
the north. Units of Joint Forces Command East advanced up
the
coastal road, capturing the city of Kuwait on the third
day of
the offensive after light fighting and the surrender of
thousands
of Iraqi soldiers.
Data as of January 1993
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