Iraqi invasion of Kuwait

Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
Part of the Gulf War
Iraqi T-72s in Kuwait City
Date 2 August 1990 – 4 August 1990 (2 days) Location Middle East Result Iraqi victory UNSC Resolution 660 condemns invasion on 2 August UNSC Resolution 661 imposes international sanctions against Iraq and declares Kuwait's right to self-defence on 6 August UNSC Resolution 662 designates Iraqi occupation/annexation of Kuwait as illegal on 9 August UNSC Resolution 665 authorizes naval blockade against Iraq on 25 August Territorial changes Iraq establishes the "Republic of Kuwait" on 4 August and annexes it on 28 August Northern Kuwait becomes the Saddamiyat al-Mitla' District within Iraq's Basra Governorate Southern Kuwait becomes Iraq's Kuwait Governorate
Belligerents
Iraqi Republic	State of Kuwait
Commanders and leaders
Saddam Hussein	Fahad †
Strength
88,000[1][2][3]	20,000 16,000 (Army)[4] 2,200 (Air Force)[4] 1,800 (Navy)[4]
Casualties and losses
295 killed 361 wounded (Unconfirmed Kuwaiti claims) 120 tanks and AFVs destroyed 52 aircraft destroyed [5] 4 ships sunk (Unconfirmed Kuwaiti claims)	420 killed 12,000 captured[6] ~250 tanks destroyed/captured 850+ AFVs destroyed/captured[7][8][9] 57 aircraft destroyed[10] 8+ Mirage F1s captured 17 ships sunk 6 ships captured[11][12][13] 24 I-Hawk SAMs destroyed/captured 36 M109 155mm destroyed/captured 20–80 AMX-F3 155mm SPHs destroyed/captured[14][15]

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait began on 2 August 1990 and marked the beginning of the Gulf War. After defeating the State of Kuwait on 4 August 1990, Iraq went on to militarily occupy the country for the next seven months.^[16] The invasion was condemned internationally, and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted numerous resolutions urging Iraq to withdraw from Kuwaiti territory. The Iraqi military, however, continued to occupy Kuwait and defied all orders by the UNSC. After initially establishing the "Republic of Kuwait" as a puppet state, Iraq annexed the entire country on 28 August 1990; northern Kuwait became the Saddamiyat al-Mitla' District and was merged into the existing Basra Governorate, while southern Kuwait was carved out as the all-new Kuwait Governorate.^[17] By November 1990, the adoption of UNSC Resolution 678 officially issued Iraq an ultimatum to withdraw unconditionally by 15 January 1991 or else be removed by "all necessary means" from Kuwaiti territory. In anticipation of a war with Iraq, the UNSC authorized the assembly of an American-led military coalition.

After Iraq failed to meet the UNSC's deadline, the coalition pursued the directive to forcefully expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait by initiating the Gulf War aerial bombardment campaign on 17 January 1991. As the bombardment campaign continued over the next month, Iraq fired missiles at Israel; the Iraqi government had hoped that an Israeli retaliation would prompt the coalition's Muslim-majority states to rescind their support for the campaign against Iraq. However, no such retaliation took place, and the coalition began a ground invasion of Iraqi-occupied Kuwait and parts of Iraq on 23 February 1991. As Iraqi troops retreated from Kuwait, they set fire to over 700 Kuwaiti oil wells, but this strategy was ultimately unsuccessful in thwarting the coalition's advance. By 28 February 1991, the Iraqi military had been devastated and Kuwaiti independence was restored.

Though the true intent behind Iraq's decision to attack Kuwait is disputed, a variety of speculations have been made. One possible motive concerned Iraq's inability to repay the US$14 billion that it had borrowed from Kuwait during the Iran–Iraq War.^[18] Proponents of this theory point to Kuwait's surge in petroleum production, which kept Iraq's revenues down; Kuwait's oil production levels were above the mandatory quota that was specified by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which had consequently urged the country to moderate production amidst a sharp decrease in global oil prices.^[19] Iraq interpreted the Kuwaiti government's refusal to decrease oil production as an act of aggression against the Iraqi economy. In early 1990, Iraq accused Kuwait of slant drilling to steal Iraqi petroleum across the Iraq–Kuwait border, though some Iraqi sources indicated that Saddam Hussein had already made the decision to attack Kuwait a few months before the actual invasion.^[20] In the two days after the invasion began, most Kuwaiti troops were overrun by the Iraqis and most Kuwaiti officials had retreated to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.