Kuwaiti Oil Fires

USAF aircraft fly over burning Kuwaiti oil wells (1991). ©HistoryMaps

1991 Feb 27

Kuwaiti Oil Fires

Kuwait

After four days of fighting, Iraqi forces were expelled from Kuwait. As part of a scorched earth policy, they set fire to nearly 700 oil wells and placed land mines around the wells to make extinguishing the fires more difficult. The fires were started in January and February 1991, and the first oil well fires were extinguished in early April 1991, with the last well capped on November 6, 1991.

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Kuwaiti Oil Fires