Operation Provide Comfort

BelligerentsUnited States
Peshmerga
United Kingdom
Germany
France
Australia
Netherlands
Turkey
Italy
Spain
PortugalIraq
Support:
BelarusCommanders and leadersJohn ShalikashviliSaddam HusseinCasualties and losses

2 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters downed by friendly fire with 26 killed
5 US servicemen killed and 25 wounded
3 UK servicemen wounded
2 Dutch servicemen wounded

Total: 31 killed, 30 wounded 90 killed, 85 wounded
Many air defense systems destroyed
1 MiG-23 Flogger shot down
1–2 Su-22 Fitters shot down

Operation Provide Comfort and Provide Comfort II were military operations initiated by the United States and other Coalition nations of the Persian Gulf War, starting in April 1991, to defend Kurdish refugees fleeing their homes in northern Iraq in the aftermath of the Gulf War, and to deliver humanitarian aid to them. The no-fly zone instituted to help bring this about would become one of the main factors allowing the development of the autonomous Kurdistan Region.