Operation Desert Storm

Operation Desert Storm was the combat phase of the 1991 Gulf War, the US-led Coalition campaign to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait after Iraq's invasion and annexation of its neighbour in August 1990. Authorised by United Nations Security Council resolutions and backed by a Coalition of more than thirty countries, the operation opened with a sustained air campaign on 17 January 1991 and culminated in a short ground offensive in late February that liberated Kuwait in roughly 100 hours of land combat. President George H. W. Bush halted operations and a Ceasefire took effect at the end of February 1991.

The campaign was preceded by Operation Desert Shield, the months-long build-up of Coalition forces in Saudi Arabia from August 1990, and remains a landmark in modern warfare. It showcased precision-guided munitions, stealth aircraft, satellite navigation and overwhelming air superiority on live television, and it established the doctrine of assembling a broad international Coalition under a UN mandate before using force. The decision to stop at Kuwait's liberation rather than march on Baghdad became one of the most debated choices of the conflict.

As a standing reference, Desert Storm is the canonical example of a limited-objective war fought to reverse an act of aggression and then deliberately stopped at that objective. Analysts invoke it whenever a Coalition forms to enforce a Security Council resolution, when air power is expected to do the bulk of the work before any ground phase, or when leaders weigh the difference between liberating territory and pursuing Regime change. Its long shadow shaped the very different choices made in the 2003 Iraq War and continues to frame debates over Coalition-building, war aims, and the limits of military victory.