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How the 1991 Gulf War reshaped Israel’s defense strategy and the Middle East’s modern military landscape.
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN JANUARY 18, 2025 20:41
US soldiers celebrate Purim and the end of the Gulf War on the streets of Tel Aviv as children spray snow foam and Israelis play music. February 1991.
(photo credit: Alex Levac, IDF archive)
It has been almost a quarter century since the 1991 Gulf War that began with Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. The war, which began with Operation Desert Storm on January 17, 1991, saw a US-led coalition destroy Iraq’s large army. The war has many lessons for today.
The Gulf War began a new world order in the Middle East and the world. The Soviet Union collapsed, and the US became the sole superpower. Saddam challenged this new order by invading Kuwait. This was seen as a major break with international norms.
The US laid down the gauntlet, asserting that countries should no longer settle matters through war. This was important because the new world order was supposed to be more democratic and peaceful.
The Hamas attack on October 7 is part of a number of trends designed to end the world order that began in 1991. It was designed to show that a group or country can get away with invading and massacring. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is the same trend. The new Iran-Russia agreement signed this week is also part of how these countries are reshaping the world.
The US deployed 500,000 troops to Saudi Arabia to fight Saddam. This began a deep US involvement in the region. US Central Command’s important role today is a legacy of that.
Things are different
Today, Israel is part of the Central Command. That would not have been possible back then because there were no Abraham Accords, and Israel didn’t even have peace with Jordan at the time. Today, things are different, and Israel is integrated into Central Command.
The US war in 1991 was one that used modern military technology and the latest in precision weapons. Today, Israel is a beneficiary of this new technology. Saddam’s launching of Scuds at Israel also taught Israel that it needed air defenses. This led Israel to develop Arrow and later David’s Sling in partnership with the US. Israel also developed the Iron Dome on its own.
The Gulf War was, in many ways, the father of Israel’s air defense program, which has proven so important today. However, Israel has also had to get used to enemies that have more ballistic missiles, such as the Houthis. The Scud was a new threat at the time. Today, Israel faces many enemies with long-range missiles.
The US military noted in a post about the war that “in a six-week air campaign, the U.S. and 40 allied nations flew more than 18,000 air deployment missions, 116,000 combat air sorties and dropped 88,500 tons of explosives. The ground campaign began on Feb. 24. Kicking off the main attack, the XVIII Airborne Corps quickly made an end run around the open right flank of the Iraqi Army.”
This was a lightning-fast war that proved that Soviet-armed states were no match for the US. This ushered in a new era. Israel’s military is now symbolic of that new era where the IDF has the latest technology and weapons.
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The Gulf War was all about the US showing off a new doctrine. This was a doctrine that learned the lessons of Vietnam in terms of fighting a fast war with clear goals. Israel has now been bogged down in Gaza for fifteen months with no clear goals. This is where Israel can learn what the US learned from Vietnam.
Israel needs to rethink its way of fighting war and focus on short, decisive wars, similar to the 1991 Gulf War. In the Gulf War, the US and its allies destroyed 3,000 tanks and masses of other Iraqi equipment. This weakened Iraq and led to the 2003 invasion. That invasion enabled Iran to then take over Iraq via militias and influence. The region now is n the shadow of the Gulf war because the Arab states such as Iraq and Syria are weaker than they used to be.
The region and Israel can learn a lot from the 1991 war. In many ways, the region today is a result of that war. However, the question is whether the right lessons have been learned.
English (US) ·