February 27: On This Day in World History … briefly
1991: The Gulf War is over!
The Gulf War ended on February 27, 1991. Saudi forces entered Kuwait City at first light as the Iraqi army fled northward, only to be cut off by allied forces which had moved behind them in a lightning strike.
Later in the day Iraqi government announced its unconditional acceptance of the UN resolutions on Kuwait and US President George Bush announced that the war was over. All allied military action ceased from February 28.
No chemical weapons were used during the four-day ground battle which ended the war and allied casualties were light. The US lost 184 men in the war. Allies took 80 000 prisoners and allied leaders calculated that 85 000 to 100 000 Iraqis had been killed.
Initial estimates were that Iraq’s infrastructure would take $200 billion and a generation to repair and that Kuwait’s reconstruction would cost $50 billion.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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