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.
Jan. 22:
- After a brief letup caused by bad weather, heavy air attacks resume in and around Basra, Iraq, a supply gateway to Kuwait, and against Republican Guard positions along Iraqi-Kuwaiti border.
- An E-8A Joint STARS, orbiting over Saudi Arabia, detects a large convoy moving toward Kuwait and vectors an AC-130 gunship and two A-10s to attack. They destroy 58 of 71 vehicles in convoy.
- A Scud missile hits Tel Aviv, Israel, destroying 20 buildings. Three people are killed and 96 are injured. The Defense Department reports that the U.S. has lost nine aircraft, Britain has lost two, and Italy and Kuwait have lost one each. Coalition forces have shot down 17 Iraqi aircraft.
Find 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, here.