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

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

–

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

strikes conducted on 3 September against

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...

targets in southern

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, in response to an Iraqi offensive in the

Kurdish Civil War The Iraqi Kurdish Civil War (, 'fratricidal 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. ...

Iraqi offensive

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

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

in to defuse the

between the

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK; ) is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the Disputed territories of Northern Iraq, disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK describes its goals as self-determination, human rights, democracy a ...

and

Kurdistan Democratic Party The Kurdistan Democratic Party (), usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the ruling Political party, party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional Government. It was founded in 1946 in Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan. ...

. This attack stoked American fears and placed Iraqi president

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

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 hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

, 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. Operated by both the United States Marine Corps and United States Navy between 1971 and 2019, it was derived from the A- ...

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 197 ...

) 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 t ...

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 supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, fighter and attack airc ...

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 an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

. On 3 September 1996, a joint operation by the U.S. Navy's ''Carl Vinson'' Carrier Battle Group 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 operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

, 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 which have a pr ...

, and

B-52 Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic aircraft, 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 ...

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 Kūt (), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare, Kut al-Imara, or Kut Al Amara is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad, and the capital of the Wasit Governorate. the estimated populatio ...

Iskandariyah Al-Iskandariya or Alexandria () is an ancient city in central Iraq, one of a number of towns in the Near East founded by and named after Alexander the Great (''Al-Iskandar'' in Arabic). It is a majority Shia Arab district including Musayyib an ...

Nasiriyah Nasiriyah ( , ; , BGN: , ), also spelled Nassiriya or Nasiriya, is a city in Iraq, the capital of the Dhi Qar Governorate. It lies on the lower Euphrates, about south-southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. Its po ...

, 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 United S ...

Aftermath

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 or Slemani (; ), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and is the capital of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate. It is surrounded by the Azmar (Ezmer), Goizha (Goyje) and Qaiwan (Qeywan) Mountains in the northeast, Bara ...

. The PUK and its leader,

Jalal Talabani Jalal Talabani (; ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2005 to 2014, as well as the president of the Governing Council of Iraq. Talabani was the founder and secretary-gene ...

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

Iraqi National Congress The Iraqi National Congress (INC; ) is an Iraqi political party that was led by Ahmed Chalabi who died in 2015. It was formed as an umbrella opposition group of majority Feyli Kurds and shia Arabs, with the aid of the United States' governme ...

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 August 1992 to March 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of moni ...

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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iraq cruise missile strikes, 1996 1996 in Iraq United States Navy in the 20th century Military operations involving the United States Naval aviation operations and battles Iraqi no-fly zones conflict September 1996 in Iraq Presidency of Bill Clinton Naval bombing operations and battles History of Babylon Governorate History of Dhi Qar Governorate History of Wasit Governorate Attacks on military installations in Iraq Attacks on military installations in 1996

Iraqi offensive

Cruise missile strikes

Aftermath

See also

References

External links