This Day in History:, The Persian Gulf War Begins.
January 16, 1991.
The UN midnight deadline for the Iraqi withdrawal
from Kuwait expired, leading to the commencement
of Operation Desert Storm.
Beginning at 4:30 p.m. EST,
aircraft from the U.S.-led military coalition
pounded targets in and around Baghdad.
During the next six weeks, the allied force
engaged in an air war against
Iraq’s military and civil infrastructure.
On February 24, a massive coalition
ground offensive began, quickly overwhelming
Iraq’s outdated and poorly supplied armed forces.
On February 28,
President George H.W. Bush declared a cease-fire.
125 American and an estimated 20,000 Iraqi soldiers
were killed in the Persian Gulf War