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Qatar Role of Kuwaiti Armed Forces in the Persian Gulf War
The Iraqi invasion in the early hours of August 2 was
detected by a balloon-borne early warning radar, but the
army had
insufficient time to mount any organized resistance. Some
contingents continued a small-unit defense, including
those
equipped with Chieftain tanks. About 7,000 soldiers
escaped to
Saudi Arabia; the remainder were killed or captured or
participated in the internal resistance movement. Some
Mirage and
Skyhawk aircraft carried out attacks on the advancing
Iraqi
columns; when their air base in southern Kuwait was
overrun, they
flew to Saudi Arabian bases, as did some of the armed
helicopters.
According to Norman Friedman, author of a study on the
strategy and tactics of the Persian Gulf War, the Kuwaiti
forces
participating in Operation Desert Storm in February 1991
included
the 35th Armored Brigade (renamed Martyr Brigade), the
15th
Infantry Brigade, and the lightly equipped Liberation
Brigade,
which was armed with .50-caliber machine guns mounted on
trucks.
One source estimated that 7,000 Kuwaiti troops were
involved. The
Martyr Brigade was the first of the units of Joint Forces
Command
East in the drive paralleling the coast northward when the
allied
operation began on February 24, 1991. Along with Saudi,
Qatari,
and Bahraini forces, supported by United States marines on
their
left flank, their assignment of liberating the city of
Kuwait
incurred little Iraqi resistance.
Of twenty-four Kuwaiti aircraft participating in
strikes
against the Iraqi forces, one A-4 Skyhawk was lost to
enemy fire.
The two surviving Kuwaiti missile craft, carrying small
marine
contingents, were able to retake oil platforms and some of
the
gulf islands. Kuwait suffered only one combat death,
according to
an official British source.
Kuwait pledged contributions totaling more than US$16
billion
to support the United States role in the Persian Gulf War.
An
additional US$6 billion was promised to Egypt and other
member
countries of the coalition to help offset the economic
effects of
the war.
Data as of January 1993
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