30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 18

In commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, Air Force Magazine is posting daily recollections from the six-week war, which expelled Iraq from occupied Kuwait.

Feb. 18:

  • Two US Navy vessels, the amphibious assault ship Tripoli and the guided missile cruiser Princeton, strike mines in Gulf and suffer significant damage.
  • Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz returns to Baghdad with a peace proposal from Soviet President Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. The Soviet Union offers a four-point peace plan:
    1. An unconditional Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait
    2. Protection for Iraqi territorial integrity
    3. No punishment of Saddam Hussein or other Iraqi leaders
    4. Talks about other Middle Eastern problems, particularly the Palestine problem

Check out our complete chronology of the Gulf War, starting with Iraq’s July 1990 invasion of Kuwait and running through Iraq’s April 1991 acceptance of peace terms.