The shattered remains of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army on Failaka Island, Kuwait

On August 2, 1990, the Iraqi Army, following orders from dictator Saddam Hussein, invaded neighboring Kuwait.

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The Iraqi invasion was swift: Kuwait was occupied in a couple of days. With this attack, Hussein intended to seize Kuwait's vast oil reserves. In addition to this invasion, Iraq attacked Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey using Scud cruise missiles. The invasion of Kuwait was condemned by the United Nations, and following it, a coalition of 42 countries led by the United States began deploying troops and military equipment to Saudi Arabia, in preparation for a campaign to liberate the invaded country.

The international military response began on January 17, 1991, with the launch of Operation Desert Storm, which included the largest air campaign since World War II. The Iraqi Army was devastated, suffering enormous losses, and many of its units surrendered without a fight. Finally, on February 28, 1991, Kuwait was liberated. Even today, you can see the rusty remnants of Saddam Hussein's army in the country. In its latest video, published yesterday, Exploring the Unbeaten Path shows rusty, wrecked old Iraqi vehicles on the Kuwaiti island of Failaka:

You can see some screenshots from this video here. At the location visited by the explorers are two Chinese Type 69 tanks, a 1974 model based on the Type 59, which in turn was the Chinese variant of the Soviet T-54A tank. Saddam Hussein's dictatorship bought 1,500 tanks of this type from communist China. It was the most numerous tank in the Iraqi Army in 1990, along with the T-54/55 (around 1,500 units), and above the T-62 (around 1,000 units) and the T-72 (another 1,000).

A Soviet-made BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle. The Iraqi Army had approximately 1,000 BMP-1s and 800 BMP-2s (an improved variant) at the time of the invasion of Kuwait. This model is still used by the Iraqi Army today (it has 434 units) and is being used by Russia in the invasion of Ukraine, with enormous losses.

A Land Rover Series III LWB. This vehicle was used by both sides during the Gulf War.

A Ford M151 MUTT, on the left. This is the only vehicle that doesn't quite fit in this exhibition, as the Iraqi Army wasn't among its operators. It's most likely a Kuwaiti Army MUTT captured during the 1990 invasion. What we see behind it are AZP S-60 anti-aircraft guns, of Soviet origin. The Iraqi Army had 500 units of this anti-aircraft artillery system at the time of the invasion.