Iraqi no-fly zones conflict

Iraqi no-fly zones
Part of thelead-up to the Iraq War
No-fly zone detail
Date 1 March 1991 – 20 March 2003 (12 years, 2 weeks and 5 days) Location Iraq Result US-led victory Ended with the beginning of theIraq War
Belligerents
United States United Kingdom France(until 1998) Turkey Saudi Arabia(Operation Southern Watch) Australia(Operation Habitat) Operation Provide Comfort/Provide Comfort II: Germany Netherlands Italy Spain Portugal	Iraq
Commanders and leaders
George H. W. Bush(until 20 January 1993) Bill Clinton(20 January 1993 – 20 January 2001) George W. Bush(from 20 January 2001) John Shalikashvili(until 1997) Hugh Shelton(from 1997) T. Michael Moseley John Major Tony Blair François Mitterrand Jacques Chirac King Fahd Prince Abdullah	Saddam Hussein
Strength
6,000 infantrymen 50 aircraft and 1,400 personnel at any one time	Unknown number ofIraqi Air Forcepersonnel andIraqi Police officers
Casualties and losses
2UH-60 Blackhawkhelicopters shot down (friendly fire, 26 killed) 19USAFpersonnel deployed as part of the operation killed in theKhobar Towers Bombing 5RQ-1 Predatorunmanned aircraftshot down	Unknown number of soldiers killed Unknown number of air defense systems destroyed 1MiG-25 Foxbatshot down 1MiG-23 Floggershot down 2Su-22Fitters shot down
1,400 Iraqi civilians killed(Iraqi government claim)

TheIraqi no-fly zones conflictwas a low-level conflict in the twono-fly zones(NFZs) in Iraq that were proclaimed by theUnited States,United Kingdom,andFranceafter theGulf War of 1991.The United States stated that the NFZs were intended to protect the ethnicKurdishminority in northernIraqandShiiteMuslimsin the south. Iraqi aircraft were forbidden from flying inside the zones. The policy was enforced by the United States and the United Kingdom until 2003, when it was rendered obsolete by the2003 invasion of Iraq.French aircraft patrols also participated until France withdrew in 1996.

The Iraqi government claimed 1,400 civilians were killed byCoalitionbombing during the NFZ.The Kurdish-dominated north gained effective autonomy and was protected from a feared repeat of theAnfal genocidein 1988 that killed tens of thousands of civilians. Over 280,000 sorties were flown in the first 9 years of the NFZs.

This military action was not authorised by the United Nations.TheSecretary-General of the UNat the time the resolution was passed,Boutros Boutros-Ghali,called the no-fly zones "illegal" in a later interview withJohn Pilger.

Legality

TheAmerican,BritishandFrench governmentsjustified the no-fly zones by invokingUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 688,though the resolution made no explicit reference to no-fly zones.

Role in preparation for ground invasion

From March to December 2002 the number of bombs dropped increased by 300%.This was recognised as "a clear indication that the no-fly zone is being used to destroy the country's air defence systems in anticipation of an all-out attack".Whitehallofficials privately admitted tothe Guardianthat the no-fly zones were being used to weaken Iraq's air defence systems instead of the stated aim of defending theMarsh Arabsand theShiapopulation of Iraq.

The commander of theUSSAbraham Lincoln's air wing said that the NFZ "makes any potential action infinitely easier... to fly over the same territory you're going to attack is a real luxury".

Civilian deaths

TheUnited Nationsreported that in 1999 alone 144 civilians were killed during Coalition bombing raids.By 1999 over 1,800 bombs had been dropped on Iraq,while Iraq stated that 1,400 civilians died due to bombing during the NFZ.

The United States and coalition countries denied these allegations and cited popular Kurdish and Shia demands for no-fly zones, in order to protect against Saddam Hussein, who unhindered had committed numerous atrocities a few years earlier, such as the infamous 1988Anfal genocidethat killed 50,000 to 182,000Kurdish civilians. The establishing of no-fly zones effectively cut off Saddam Hussein from much of the north and secured the Kurdish population, who gained effective autonomy directly following the intervention. This autonomy has continued to thrive and even avoided the chaos and bloodshed that characterized the rest of Iraq during the 2003 Iraq war.

History

From 1992 to the United States-led coalitioninvasion of Iraq in 2003,there were two NFZs in Iraq. The NFZ in the north of Iraq was established shortly after the Gulf War, extending from the36th parallelnorthwards. In August 1992 the NFZ in the south to the32nd parallelwas established,but in 1996 it was expanded to the33rd parallel.The northern NFZ was initially part ofOperation Provide Comfortrelief operations to a persecutedKurdishminority in Iraq, and was followed on byOperation Northern Watch.The southern NFZ was maintained byOperation Southern Watch.

WhenOperation Desert Stormended in 1991, the safety of Kurds who were fleeing during theuprisingfrom Iraqi persecution became an issue, andOperation Provide Comfortbegan. This operation essentially created a Northern NFZ to Iraqi military aircraft. The operation provided the Kurdish population with humanitarian aid and reassurance of safe skies.

On 26 June 1993, the U.S. conducted acruise missile attack on the Iraqi Intelligence Service's (IIS) principal command and control complex in Baghdad,publicly announced as retaliation for the assassination attempt by the IIS on former President George H. W. Bush while he was visiting Kuwait in April of that year to commemorate a coalition victory over Iraq in the Gulf War. Fourteen cruise missiles were launched fromUSSPetersonand nine of them launched fromUSSChancellorsville.Sixteen hit the target, while three struck a residential area, killing nine civilians and wounding 12 others. Four missiles were unaccounted for.

In October 1994,Baghdadonce again began mobilizing around 64,000 Iraqi troops near the Kuwaiti border because of their expressed frustrations of economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).In response, the U.S. begins to deploy troops in the Persian Gulf to deter Iraqi aggression against Kuwait. Code-namedOperation Vigilant Warrior,1st Brigade of theFort Stewart,Georgia-based 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) deployed and drew pre-positioned equipment in Kuwait. The 23rd Wing's (Flying Tigers) 75th Fighter Squadron (Tigersharks) and its full complement ofA-10sinitially deployed fromPope AFB,North CarolinatoDhahran Air Base,Saudi Arabia, followed by the first forward deployment toAhmad al-Jaber Air Base,Kuwait. This allowed better face-to-face coordination with tactical air control parties (TACP) assets further forward deployed atCamp Doha,Kuwait and points north. Iraq would later withdraw troops near the Kuwaiti border in response to a massive U.S. military build-up.

However, this was marred by afriendly-fireincident on 14 April 1994 when twoUnited States Air ForceF-15 Eaglefighter planesmistakenly shot downtwoUnited States ArmyBlackhawkhelicopters, killing 26 Coalition military and civilian personnel.

In September 1996, the U.S. conductedOperation Desert Strike,and ships from theUSSCarl VinsonBattle Group, includingUSSLaboon,andUSSShiloh,in conjunction withB-52bombers escorted byF-14D Tomcatsfrom USSCarl Vinson,launched 27 cruise missiles against Iraqi air defense targets in southern Iraq.A second wave of 17 was launched later that day.The missiles hit targets in and aroundKut,Iskandariyah,Nasiriyah,andTallil.This was done in response toSaddam Hussein,the dictator of Iraq, attempting to launch an Iraqi military offensive campaign in theKurdishtown ofArbilin Iraqi Kurdistan.

Operation Provide Comfort officially ended on 31 December 1996. Following Operation Provide Comfort, the United States continued to watch over the northern skies with the launching of Operation Northern Watch on 1 January 1997. Operation Northern Watch continued to provide air security to the Kurdish population in the north. By 1999, the Department of Defense had flown over 200,000 sorties over Iraq.

American and British aircraft continuously enforced the NFZ, receiving anti-aircraft fire from Iraqi forces almost daily.The operation ran until its conclusion on 1 May 2003. In the south, Operation Southern Watch was underway to watch over the persecuted Shi'ite populations. This operation was launched on 27 August 1992 with the mission of preventing further human rights abuses against civilian populations. Iraq challenged the no-fly zone beginning in December 1992 when a USAFF-16fighter plane shot down an IraqiMiG-25 Foxbatfighter which had locked onto it in the Southern no-fly zone. The next month Coalition planes attacked Iraqi SAM sites in the South.Baghdad eventually halted firing on patrolling Coalition aircraft after August 1993.

In December 1998,Operation Desert Foxwas conducted by theUSAFand theRoyal Air Force,which was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from 16 December to 19 December 1998. The contemporaneous justification for the strikes was Iraq's failure to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions and its interference withUnited Nations Special Commissioninspectors.

In the aftermath of Operation Desert Fox in December 1998, Iraq announced it would no longer respect the no-fly zones and resumed its efforts in shooting down Coalition aircraft.Saddam Husseinoffered a $14,000 reward to anyone who could accomplish this task, but no manned aircraft were ever shot down byIraq.Air strikes by British and American aircraft against Iraqi claimed anti-aircraft and military targets continued weekly over the next few years. In the early 2000s (decade), the U.S. developed a contingency plan,Operation Desert Badgerfor dealing with pilots shot down over Iraqi no-fly zones.

Still photograph from a videotape of an Iraqi surface-to-air missile, believed to be an SA-3, launched at a Coalition aircraft in July 2001.

The operation continued until it transitioned toOperation Southern Focusin June 2002. They began to carry out offensive sorties, not only against targets that had fired on them, but upon installations that had demonstrated no hostile intent. The U.S. claimed that these increased attacks were the result of increasing Iraqi provocations, but later, in July 2005, theBritish Ministry of Defensereleased figures showing that the number of provocations had actually dropped dramatically prior to and just after the increase in allied attacks. Their records indicate that in the first seven months of 2001, there had been 370 provocations on the part of Iraq. In the seven months from October 2001 into May 2002, only 32 such provocations were recorded.General Tommy Franks later acknowledged that the dramatic increase in offensive sorties was an attempt to destroy the Iraqi defenses in much the same way as the air strikes at the beginning of the Gulf War had.

In purported retaliation for the Iraqis' now-daily air defense attacks on Coalition aircraft, the September attacks included a 5 September 100-aircraft attack on the main air defense site in western Iraq. According to an editorial by Michael Smith for theNew Statesman,this was "Located at the furthest extreme of the southern no-fly zone, far away from the areas that needed to be patrolled to prevent attacks on the Shi'a; it was destroyed not because it was a threat to the patrols, but to allow allied special forces operating from Jordan to enter Iraq undetected."

The NFZs effectively ceased to exist with the beginning of theIraq Warin March 2003, since air superiority over the country was quickly attained by the coalition. The NFZs were officially deactivated right after Saddam Hussein's overthrow.

See also

• Iraqi Airways
• Iraq sanctions
• Post–World War II air-to-air combat losses

External links

• Full-text of Resolution 688