1991 Iraqi missile attacks against Israel (17 gen 1991 anni – 23 feb 1991 anni)

Descrizione:

On January 17th, 1991, Iraq initiated a missile campaign against Israel. Over the course of the next month, approximately 42 Scud missiles were fired into Israeli territory, primarily at the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The missile attacks began on the same day as the Gulf War aerial bombardment campaign, which was targeting military infrastructure within Iraqi-occupied Kuwait. As many Muslim-majority countries were actively contributing to the American-led military coalition, the Iraqi government had expected them to rescind their support if Israel responded to the missile campaign by attacking Iraq. However, Israel was convinced by Jordan and the United States to not retaliate: Jordanian king Hussein bin Talal had persuaded Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir to consider Jordan's stability and not violate Jordanian airspace during a bilateral meeting two weeks earlier; and the Bush administration had increased defense aid to Israel for the purpose of actively countering Iraq's barrages and preventing an Israeli counterattack, thereby ensuring that the coalition's Muslim countries did not withdraw. On February 23rd, 1991, the coalition began a ground offensive into Iraqi-occupied Kuwait and Iraq proper. According to UK Cabinet Office records, the then-Minister of Defense of Israel, Moshe Arens said in a meeting at the White House that the Iraqi attacks had caused "extensive damage" in Israel.

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