Loading ...The Gulf War was the war of 1990 to 1991 that took place between Iraq and a coalition made up of 31 nations under the leadership of the United States, in response to Iraq invading and conquering the emirate of Kuwait. It is also known as Operation Desert Storm, name of the US-led campaign that aimed to liberate Kuwait. In Iraq, the war is often simply called Um M'a?rak – "The Mother of all battles" (a phrase coined by Saddam Hussein).
The onset of war started with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2 of 1990. Iraq was immediately punished economically by the United Nations. Hostilities began in January 1991, and resulted in the victory of coalition forces. Iraqi troops left Kuwait, leaving a high balance of human casualties. The battles mostly took place in the air and on the ground within Iraq, Kuwait, and on the border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The causes of war, and even its name, are still controversial subjects.
Attack on Israel and Saudi Arabia
In an attempt to break the coalition and lead the exodus from Egypt, Syria, Iran and other Arab conflict, Saddam Hussein gave the order to bomb Israel using Scud-B to force the Jewish state to enter the war. The tactic however did not work and the Israelis would refrain from any reprisals, but these attacks forced the coalition to change their plans. From that moment, the mobile platforms with which the Iraqis fired at Israel would be the main target of attacks. This took a great amount of F-15 thanks to the fact that their highly sophisticated radar, APG-70, met the requirements to track and destroy the much elusive Scud launchers. In total some 41 Scud missiles with conventional cargo impacted on the Israeli cities of Tel-Aviv and Haifa.