Iraqi no-fly zones conflict

Iraqi no-fly zones
Part of the lead-up to the Iraq War
No-fly zone detail
Date 1 March 1991 – 20 March 2003 (12 years, 2 weeks and 5 days) Location Iraq Result US-led victory Ended with the beginning of the Iraq War
Belligerents
United States  United Kingdom  France (until 1998)  Turkey[1][2]  Saudi Arabia (Operation Southern Watch)  Australia (Operation Habitat) Operation Provide Comfort/Provide Comfort II: Germany  Netherlands Italy  Spain  Portugal	Iraq
Commanders and leaders
George H. W. Bush (until 20 January 1993) Bill Clinton (20 January 1993 – 20 January 2001) George W. Bush (from 20 January 2001) John Shalikashvili (until 1997) Hugh Shelton (from 1997) T. Michael Moseley John Major Tony Blair François Mitterrand Jacques Chirac King Fahd Prince Abdullah	Saddam Hussein
Strength
6,000 infantrymen 50 aircraft and 1,400 personnel at any one time	Unknown number of Iraqi Air Force personnel and Iraqi Police officers
Casualties and losses
2 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters shot down (friendly fire, 26 killed) 19 USAF personnel deployed as part of the operation killed in the Khobar Towers Bombing 5 RQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft shot down	Unknown number of soldiers killed Unknown number of air defense systems destroyed 1 MiG-25 Foxbat shot down 1 MiG-23 Flogger shot down 2 Su-22 Fitters shot down
1,400 Iraqi civilians killed (Iraqi government claim)[3]

The Iraqi no-fly zones conflict was a low-level conflict in the two no-fly zones (NFZs) in Iraq that were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom, and France after the Gulf War of 1991. The United States stated that the NFZs were intended to protect the ethnic Kurdish minority in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south. Iraqi aircraft were forbidden from flying inside the zones. The policy was enforced by the United States and the United Kingdom until 2003, when it was rendered obsolete by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. French aircraft patrols also participated until France withdrew in 1996.^[4]

The Iraqi government claimed 1,400 civilians were killed by Coalition bombing during the NFZ.^[5] The Kurdish-dominated north gained effective autonomy and was protected from a feared repeat of the Anfal genocide in 1988 that killed tens of thousands of civilians. Over 280,000 sorties were flown in the first 9 years of the NFZs.^[6]

This military action was not authorised by the United Nations.^[7] The Secretary-General of the UN at the time the resolution was passed, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, called the no-fly zones "illegal" in a later interview with John Pilger.^[8][9]