Timeline of Gulf War (1990–1991)

The timeline of the Gulf War details the dates of the major events of the 1990–91 war, which began with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 and concluded after the Liberation of Kuwait by Coalition forces and Iraq agreeing to United Nations' demands on 28 February 1991. The war officially concluded with the signing of the armistice on 11 April 1991. Major events in the aftermath include anti-Saddam Hussein uprisings in Iraq, massacres against the Kurds by the regime, Iraq formally recognizing the sovereignty of Kuwait in 1994 and eventually ending its cooperation with the United Nations Special Commission in 1998.

1990

 * 28–30 May: Iraqi president Saddam Hussein says that oil overproduction by Kuwait and United Arab Emirates was an "economic warfare" against Iraq.
 * 28 May: President of Iraq Saddam Hussein and Emir of Kuwait Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah meet at the Arab League Summit in Baghdad.
 * 15 July: Iraq accuses Kuwait of stealing oil from the Rumaila oil field, Iraq's oil field near the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border and warns of military action.
 * 22 July: Iraq begins deploying troops to the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border and building a massive military buildup.
 * 24 July: President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak travels to Baghdad to discuss with Saddam Hussein about the dispute between Kuwait and Iraq.
 * 2 August: About 100,000 Iraqi troops Invades Kuwait
 * 2 August: Battle of Dasman Palace. Emir Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah flees to Saudi Arabia with his family and ministers
 * 2 August: United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 660 condemns the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Yemen is the only Arab country that does not take part in the vote in the UNSC.
 * 3 August: President of the United States George H.W. Bush announces that U.S. Navy ships are deployed to the Persian Gulf
 * 4 August: Alaa Hussein Ali is appointed as the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of Free Kuwait and Ali Hassan al-Majid as Governor of the Kuwait Governorate which is declared as the 19th Governorate of Iraq
 * 5 August: Emir Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah forms the Government in exile in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia
 * 6 August: United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 implements international sanctions on Iraq.Yemen doesn't take part in the vote in the UNSC.
 * 6 August: United States Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney meets King of Saudi Arabia Fahd in Riyadh to discuss sending U.S. military troops to defend Saudi Arabia in case of Iraqi invasion.
 * 7 August: 15, 000 U.S. troops, 32 destroyers and 100 helicopters and fighter planes arrive in Saudi Arabia
 * 8 August: Operation Desert Shield is launched by the United States
 * 9 August: United Nations Security Council Resolution 662 condemns the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
 * 9 August: Iraq closes all its land borders
 * 10 August: Arab League Emergency summit takes place in Cairo. Majority Arab countries condemn the invasion and call Iraq to withdraw its troops from Kuwait and return Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as Emir of Kuwait. Only Libya and the Palestine Liberation Organization supports the Iraqi invasion.
 * 10 August: Arab League Cairo summit votes, by very small margin, to send Egyptian, Syrian and Moroccan military troops to the Gulf region to support Kuwait.
 * 12 August: Naval blockade of Iraq begins.
 * 13 August: Indian Government starts to airlift Indian nationals from Kuwait via Amman to Mumbai. About 175,000 Indian nationals are evacuated from Kuwait through 20 October.
 * 15 August: Iran and Iraq re-establish diplomatic relations first time after the end of the Iran-Iraq War.
 * 16 August: Secretary Dick Cheney orders U.S. naval ships to stop all cargo and tankers leaving and entering Iraq and Kuwait.
 * 18 August: United Nations Security Council Resolution 664 condemns Iraq and demands it leaves Kuwait
 * 19 August: United Arab Emirates allows foreign troops to enter its territory
 * 20 August: Hundred of thousands of Pakistani, Egyptian, Palestinian, and Filipino guest workers flee Kuwait to Jordan
 * 20 August: 82 British nationals are take hostages in Kuwait
 * 25 August: United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 implements international sanctions on Iraq
 * 26 August: Iraq sieges foreign embassies in Kuwait City.
 * 29 August: United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar travels to Baghdad to meet Foreign Minister of Iraq Tariq Aziz
 * 1 September: Iraq allows 700 westerners to leave Iraq. They had been hostage since the invasion.
 * 2 September: Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar returns from Baghdad without any agreement with the Government of Iraq.
 * 9 September: President of the United States George H.W. Bush and President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Helsinki Summit to discuss the Iraqi invasion. In a press conference, the presidents demand Iraq leave Kuwait under the UNSC Resolutions of 660, 661, 662, 664 and 665.
 * 14 September: United Kingdom and France announce the deployment of troops to Saudi Arabia.
 * 25 September: United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 implements civil aviation sanctions on Iraq.
 * 17 October: 200,000 American, 15,000 British and 11,000 French troops are stationed in the Gulf region.
 * 8 November: U.S sends more troops to the Gulf region. About 100,000 troops arrive to support the existing 220,000 troops in the region.
 * 19 November: Iraq sends about 200,000 more troops to Kuwait.
 * 29 November: The U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 678 setting a deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait before January 15, 1991, or face military action.
 * 29 November: President George H.W. Bush offers dialogue to Foreign Minister of Iraq Tariq Aziz to meet in Washington D.C..
 * 6 December: Iraq releases 3,000 foreign hostages from Kuwait and Iraq.
 * 10 December: Iraq releases British hostages.

1991

 * 9 January: United States Secretary of State James Baker meets Foreign Minister of Iraq Tariq Aziz at the Geneva Conference in Hotel InterContinental without any solution.
 * January 12: U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq and Kuwait. The votes were 52-47 in the U.S. Senate and 250-183 in the House of Representatives. These were the closest margins in authorizing force by the Congress since the War of 1812.
 * 12 January: United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar meets Saddam Hussein in Baghdad without any agreement with the Government of Iraq on withdrawing from Kuwait.
 * 12 January: Soviet special envoy Yevgeny Primakov meets Saddam Hussein in Baghdad about the possible Coalition invasion of Kuwait.
 * 15 January: Saddam Hussein announces that Iraq will consider withdrawing its troops from Kuwait under some conditions.
 * 15 January: 580,000 Coalition troops are stationed in the Gulf region against 540,000 Iraqi troops.
 * 15 January: First U.S. government statement of Operation Desert Storm made.
 * 15 January: Iraq ignores all UN resolutions.
 * January 16: Coalition forces lead by the U.S. start deploying into Kuwait through the Persian Gulf and the Saudi Arabian border, starting the first official infantry combat.
 * 17 January: Foreign Minister of Iraq Tariq Aziz meets President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow where they discuss the Soviet peace plan.
 * 17 January: Operation Desert Storm is launched. First air attacks are launched on Iraq and Kuwait.
 * 18 January, 01:00  GMT: Iraq fires 12 scud missiles at Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv, killing 12 people. United States tells Israel not to retaliate to the scud attack due to the risk of expanding the war and causing the collapse of the Arab Coalition. The U.S. deploys Patriot missiles to Israel and Saudi Arabia.
 * 21 January: Foreign Minister of Iraq Tariq Aziz accepts the Soviet peace plan. President Bush refuses the peace plan as unrealistic for the coalition.
 * 22 January: Iraq burns Kuwaiti oil fields. About 600 oil fields are on fire.
 * 24 January: Iraq continues to burn Kuwaiti oil fields and dumps the oil into the Persian Gulf.
 * 24 January: Coalition forces capture the small Kuwaiti island of Qaruh.
 * 25 January: Iraqi troops dumped millions of gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf.
 * 29 January: United States and the Soviet Union offer a ceasefire to Iraq if it withdraws all its troops from Kuwait.
 * 29 January: Iraqi forces invaded the town of Khafji in Saudi Arabia. Iraqi forces were soon engaged by Saudi Arabian and Qatari troops with help from U.S. Marines.
 * 30 January: Coalition starts its first land operations in Kuwait and Southern Iraq.
 * 1 February: Iraqi forces are driven out of Saudi Arabia.
 * 22 February: U.S. President George H. W. Bush issues a 24-hour ultimatum: Iraq must withdraw from Kuwait to avoid start of a ground war.
 * 23 February: President of the United States George H.W. Bush calls on Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait before starting Operation Desert Storm
 * 24 February: Ground war begins when U.S.-led Coalition forces invaded Iraq and Kuwait at around 4 a.m. Baghdad time. British Special Air Service was the first to enter Iraqi territory.
 * 25 February: 20,000 Iraqi troops surrender to the coalition. By the end of February, about 100,000 Iraqi troops will have surrendered.
 * 25 February: Iraq launches scud missile attacks to Dhahran in Saudi Arabia which kills 28 American troops and injures 98 civilians.
 * 26 February: President of Iraq Saddam Hussein announces that Iraq will withdraw from Kuwait totally and accept the UN resolution. Saddam still does not renounce Iraqi claims over Kuwait.
 * 26 February: About 10,000 retreating Iraqi troops are killed when Coalition aircraft bombed their stolen civilian and military vehicles. This becomes known as the Highway of Death.
 * 26 February: Iraqi troops flee from Kuwait City.
 * 27 February: U.S. Marines and Saudi Arabian troops entered Kuwait City.
 * 27 February: President Bush announced that the Liberation of Kuwait has started and the cessation of hostilities will end at 04:00 GMT the same day
 * 27 February: Coalition announces that they have destroyed almost of the half of the all Iraqi divisions and 500,000 Iraqi troops has been taken as PWOs.
 * 28 February: President of the United States George H.W. Bush announces the ceasefire, that Kuwait is free and Iraqi Army is defeated.
 * 28 February: Iraq announces that it will accept all UN resolutions.
 * 1 March: A cease-fire plan is negotiated in Safwan, Iraq.
 * 3 March: Iraq accepts the terms of a ceasefire from the U.N. Security Council.
 * 6 March: Shiia rebellion starts in Basra.
 * 13 March: Secretary of State of the United States James Baker meets President of Syria Hafez Al-Assad in Damascus to discuss future Middle East issues.
 * 14 March: Anti-Saddam rebellions continue in Iraq.
 * 30 March: First Arab League summit starts in Cairo after the Kuwaiti invasion. An Iraqi delegation also takes part in the summit.
 * 3 April: Iraqi army massacres Kurds in Northern Iraq.
 * 11 April: Armistice is signed between the Coalition and Iraqi Army.
 * 7 April: Kuwaiti Emir promises elections in Kuwait in 1992
 * 14 April: Emir of Kuwait Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah returns to Kuwait.
 * 17 April: U.S. troops enter Northern Iraq from Turkey to protect Kurdish refugees.
 * 15 June: 29 people are accused of co-operating with the Iraqi forces, and are executed in Kuwait.
 * 16 August: UN repeals some Iraqi sanctions; Iraq is allowed to produce oil, limited to about USD$1.6 billion per barrel.
 * 30 August: Kuwaiti Air Force attacks Iraqi destroyer in the Gulf.
 * 7 November: The final Kuwaiti oil fire is extinguished.

1992

 * 26: August: No-fly zone is established in Southern Iraq.

1993

 * 13 January: United States bombs Iraq.

1994

 * 10 November: Iraq recognises Kuwaiti independence and the borders it shares with Iraq.

1995

 * 14 April: United Nations Security Council approves the oil for food program to Iraq.

1996

 * 3 September: United States bombs Iraq and extends the No-fly zone in Southern Iraq.

1998

 * 31 October: Iraq ends its co-operation with the United Nations Special Commission.