<Li> Kuwait International Airport </Li> <Ul> <Li> Rumaila </Li> <Li> Safwan </Li> </Ul> <P> The Invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 was a 2 - day operation conducted by Iraq against the neighboring state of Kuwait, which resulted in the seven - month - long Iraqi occupation of the country . This invasion and Iraq's subsequent refusal to withdraw from Kuwait by a deadline mandated by the United Nations led to military intervention by a United Nations - authorized coalition of forces led by the United States . These events came to be known as the first Gulf War and resulted in the expulsion of Iraqi forces from Kuwait and the Iraqis setting 600 Kuwaiti oil wells on fire during their retreat . </P> <P> In early 1990 Iraq was accusing Kuwait of stealing Iraqi petroleum through slant drilling, although some Iraqi sources indicated Saddam Hussein's decision to attack Kuwait was made a few months before the actual invasion . Some feel there were several reasons for the Iraqi move, including Iraq's inability to pay the more than US $14 billion that it had borrowed to finance the Iran--Iraq war, and Kuwaiti high petroleum production levels which kept revenues down for Iraq . The invasion started on 2 August 1990, and within two days most of the Kuwait Armed Forces were either overrun by the Iraqi Republican Guard or fell back to neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain . The State of Kuwait was annexed, and Saddam Hussein announced a few days later that it was the 19th province of Iraq . </P>

The invasion of kuwait by iraq resulted in a conflict that became known as