[custom_adv] On January 16, 1991, President George H. W. Bush announced the start of what would be called Operation Desert Storm—a military operation to expel occupying Iraqi forces from Kuwait, which Iraq had invaded and annexed months earlier. [custom_adv] For weeks, a U.S.-led coalition of two dozen nations had positioned more than 900,000 troops in the region, most stationed on the Saudi-Iraq border. A U.N.-declared deadline for withdrawal passed on January 15, with no action from Iraq, so coalition forces began a five-week bombardment of Iraqi command and control targets from air and sea. [custom_adv] Despite widespread fears that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein might order the use of chemical weapons, a ground invasion followed in February. [custom_adv] Coalition forces swiftly drove Iraq from Kuwait, advancing into Iraq, and reaching a cease-fire within 100 hours—controversially leaving Saddam Hussein in power. While coalition casualties were in the hundreds, Iraqi losses numbered in the tens of thousands. [custom_adv] Although Iraq and Kuwait had decades-old border disputes, the two countries became close allies during the former's 1980s war against Iran.Kuwait provided Iraq much needed funding in the form of loans for military equipment during the eight-year conflict. [custom_adv] But after the Iraq-Iran war ended in 1988, Iraq, economically exhausted and laden with enormous debt, needed more financial assistance. It had its eyes on Kuwait's massive oil resources and expected it to forgive its debt. [custom_adv] "From Kuwait's perspective, Iraq has always harboured an expansionist agenda towards Kuwait and their invasion fit into that agenda," said Dania al-Thafer, director of the Gulf International Forum. [custom_adv] "Many in Kuwait also argued that the invasion was largely motivated by Iraq's desire to control Kuwait's large oil reserves," she added. [custom_adv] The invasion was met with swift condemnation by the international community which moved to isolate Iraq politically and economically. [custom_adv] On August 6, the UN Security Council (UNSC) demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. It also slapped a trade, financial and military embargo on Baghdad. [custom_adv] But by late November, Kuwait was still under Iraqi occupation. The UNSC then authorised the use of "all necessary means" to force Iraq out of Kuwait if its troops did not withdraw by January 15, 1991. [custom_adv] In the meantime, US President George Bush sent troops to Saudi Arabia and assembled a US-led international coalition with the goal of intervening if the deadline was not met.
