Aftermath of the War

Total United States casualties for the Persian Gulf War were 148 killed in action and 458 wounded. Total casualties of the other coalition members were 77 killed in action and 830 wounded. Approximately one-quarter of the casualties were caused by misdirected fire from coalition troops. Estimates of Iraqi casualties range from 30,000 to 100,000 killed, and from 100,000 to 300,000 wounded.

The Security Council approved a resolution on March 2 setting the terms of surrender. Iraqi military commanders agreed to accept terms the following day. Meanwhile, Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq rose in rebellion against Saddam Hussein on March I and the Kurds in northern Iraq rose in rebellion on March 5. Both the Shiites and the Kurds were temporarily victorious, but by March 20 the Shiite rebels were defeated and by April 3 the Kurds were in retreat.

On April 6, the Iraqi government accepted the permanent cease-fire terms of the UN Security Council Resolution. On April 11, the Security Council declared an end to the war. Among the provisions of the cease-fire were ones requiring Iraq to pay war damages to Kuwait and its allies and to agree to a UN-supervised destruction of its development facilities for chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

By the middle of April more than a million Kurds had fled attacks by Hussein's forces, and on April 17 United States, French, and British troops established a protective zone for Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq.

In the closing days of the war, Iraq had set fire to more than 500 oil wells in Kuwait. The fires continued to burn for months, causing catastrophic air pollution throughout the region.