The 1996 cruise missile strikes on Iraq, codenamed Operation Desert Strike, were joint

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

–

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

strikes conducted on 3 September against

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

targets in southern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, in response to an Iraqi offensive in the

Kurdish Civil War The Iraqi Kurdish Civil War was a civil war that took place between rival Kurdish factions in Iraqi Kurdistan during the mid-1990s, mostly between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Over the course of t ...

Iraqi offensive

On 31 August 1996, the Iraqi military launched its biggest offensive since 1991 against the city of

Erbil Erbil, also called Hawler (, ar, أربيل, Arbīl; syr, ܐܲܪܒܹܝܠ, Arbel), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It lies in the Erbil Governorate. It has an estimated population of around 1,600,000. H ...

in to defuse the

between the

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK; ku, یەکێتیی نیشتمانیی کوردستان, translit=Yekîtiya Nîştimanî ya Kurdistanê) is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK descri ...

and

Kurdistan Democratic Party The Kurdistan Democratic Party ( ku, Partiya Demokrat a Kurdistanê; پارتی دیموکراتی کوردستان), usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the largest party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional G ...

. This attack stoked American fears and placed Iraqi president

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

in clear violation of

United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 United Nations Security Council Resolution 688, adopted on 5 April 1991, after receiving letters from the representatives of France, Iran, and Turkey and expressing its concern over political repression of the Iraqi people, including those in Ira ...

forbidding repression of Iraqs ethnic minorities.

Cruise missile strikes

The strikes were initially planned to be by aircraft launched from the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

, including aircraft from Fighter Squadron 11 (VF-11) and Fighter Squadron 31 (VF-31), both operating F-14D Tomcats; Electronic Attack Squadron 139 (VAQ-139), operating

EA-6B Prowler The Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, four-seat, mid-wing electronic-warfare aircraft derived from the A-6 Intruder airframe. The EA-6A was the initial electronic warfare version of the A-6 used by the United ...

s; Attack Squadron 196 (VA-196), operating A-6E SWIP Intruders equipped with the Target Recognition and Attack Multi-Sensor (TRAM) system; Anti-Submarine Squadron 35 (

VS-35 Sea Control Squadron 35 (VS-35), known as the ''Boomerangers'' was an anti-submarine/surface squadron of the United States Navy. Established on 3 January 1961, at Naval Air Station Los Alamitos, California, it was disestablished on 30 June 1973. ...

) flying

S-3B Viking The Lockheed S-3 Viking is a four-crew, twin-engine turbofan-powered jet aircraft designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Corporation. Because of its characteristic sound, it was nicknamed the "War Hoover" after th ...

s; and Strike Fighter Squadron 113 (VFA-113) and Strike Fighter Squadron 25 (VFA-25), both operating

F/A-18C Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now par ...

s. However the strike was instead launched by U.S. Navy

surface warship Surface combatants (or surface ships or surface vessels) are a subset of naval warships which are designed for warfare on the surface of the water, with their own weapons and armed forces. They are generally ships built to fight other ships, subma ...

s and U.S. Air Force (USAF) bombers, using

cruise missiles A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...

. On 3 September 1996, a joint operation by the U.S. Navy's ''Carl Vinson''

Carrier Battle Group A carrier battle group (CVBG) is a naval fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier capital ship and its large number of escorts, together defining the group. The ''CV'' in ''CVBG'' is the United States Navy hull classification code for an ai ...

and the USAF, a combined strike team consisting of the

guided-missile cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

, the

guided-missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers who have a prim ...

, and

B-52 Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...

bombers escorted by F-14D Tomcat fighters from ''Carl Vinson'', with the nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser serving as Air Warfare Commander, launched 27 cruise missiles against Iraqi

targets in southern Iraq. A second wave of 17 missiles was launched later that day from the destroyers , , USS ''Laboon'', and the nuclear-powered attack submarine . The missiles hit targets in and around Kut,

Iskandariyah Al-Iskandariya or Alexandria ( ar, الإسكندرية, also given as Iskandariyah, Iskanderiyah, Iskanderiya, Iskanderiyeh or Sikandariyeh or Al Askandariyah) is an ancient city in central Iraq, one of a number of towns in the Near East founde ...

Nasiriyah Nasiriyah ( ar, ٱلنَّاصِرِيَّة; BGN: ''An Nāşirīyah''; also spelled ''Nassiriya'' or ''Nasiriya'') is a city in Iraq. It is on the lower Euphrates, about south-southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. ...

, and

Tallil Nasiriyah Airport is a public and military airport located 23 km (14 mi) southwest of Nasiriyah, Iraq. It is also known as Tallil Air Base until December 2011 and Imam Ali Air Base until March 2017, when the base was used by Unite ...

Aftermath

The attacks were primarily aimed at retaliation for the targeting of USAF fighters in the Northern and Southern no-fly zones, and were targeted at

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

sites and command, control, and communication locations, with the intention of degrading the Iraqi air defense infrastructure. These strikes, along with follow-on deployments of troops, aircraft, and the addition of a second aircraft carrier to the region, achieved their desired results. It is debatable whether the attacks did or did not have a substantial effect on Iraqs northern campaign. Once they installed the

(KDP) in control of Irbil, Iraqi troops withdrew from the Kurdish region back to their initial positions. The KDP drove the

(PUK) from its other strongholds, and with additional Iraqi help, captured

Sulaymaniyah Sulaymaniyah, also spelled as Slemani ( ku, سلێمانی, Silêmanî, ar, السليمانية, as-Sulaymāniyyah), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, not far from the Iran–Iraq border. It is surrounded by the Azmar, G ...

. The PUK and its leader,

Jalal Talabani Jalal Talabani ( ku, مام جەلال تاڵەبانی, translit=Celal Talebanî; ar, جلال طالباني ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well as ...

, retreated to the border, and U.S. forces evacuated 700

Iraqi National Congress The Iraqi National Congress (INC; Arabic: المؤتمر الوطني العراقي ''Al-Moutammar Al-Watani Al-'Iraqi'') is an Iraqi political party that was led by Ahmed Chalabi who died in 2015. It was formed as an umbrella opposition group ...

personnel and 6,000 pro-Western Kurds out of northern Iraq. In response to Iraqs moves, the United States and United Kingdom also expanded

Operation Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of mon ...

and the southern

Iraqi no-fly zones The Iraqi no-fly zones conflict was a low-level conflict in the two no-fly zones (NFZs) in Iraq that were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom, and France after the Gulf War of 1991. The United States stated that the NFZs were intend ...

from the 32nd parallel to the 33rd parallel, bringing it to the edges of Baghdad itself.

References

External links

Operation Desert Strike at globalsecurity.org
{{Bill Clinton, state=collapsed cruise missile strikes cruise missile strikes on Iraq Battles involving Iraq Battles involving the United States Military operations involving the United States Airstrikes conducted by the United States Iraq–United States military relations cruise missile strikes on Iraq Presidency of Bill Clinton

Iraqi offensive

Cruise missile strikes

Aftermath

See also

References

External links