1992–2003 U.S. military operation in southern Iraq
Operation Southern Watch
Part of the Iraqi no-fly zones conflict
Two F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft from the Texas Air National Guard and New Jersey Air National Guard prepare to depart Prince Sultan Air Base on a patrol as part of Operation Southern Watch in 2000.
Date
27 August 1992 – 19 March 2003
Location
Southern Iraq, below the 32nd and 33rd parallels.
Result
Inconclusive Ended with Invasion of Iraq
Belligerents
United States United Kingdom France (until 1998)[1] Saudi Arabia
Iraq
Commanders and leaders
George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Bush
Saddam Hussein
Strength
5,000[2]
Various Iraqi air defense forces
Casualties and losses
19 American airmen killed and 372 Coalition personnel injured in the Khobar Towers bombing 3 RQ-1 Predator shot down[3]
1 MiG-25 Foxbat and 1 MiG-23 Flogger shot down 10–15 air defense systems destroyed 175+ civilians killed and 500 others wounded[4]
v
t
e
Iraqi no-fly zones conflict
Provide Comfort
Southern Watch
Strikes (Jan '93)
Strikes (June '93)
Kurdish Civil War (Desert Strike)
Vigilant Warrior
Northern Watch
Desert Fox
Strikes (Feb '01)
Kurdistan Islamist insurgency
Southern Focus
Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from August 1992 to March 2003.
United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA)[5] had the mission of monitoring and controlling the airspace south of the 32nd Parallel (extended to the 33rd Parallel in 1996) in southern and south-central Iraq during the period following the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War until the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
^Boring, War Is (15 August 2016). "Warning – MiG-25!". Archived from the original on 23 October 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
^"Air Force Historical Support Division > Home" (PDF).
^Knights, Michael (2005).Cradle of Conflict: Iraq and the Birth of Modern U.S. Military Power. Naval Institute Press, p. 242. ISBN 1-59114-444-2
^John Pike. "Operation Southern Watch". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
^"A BRIEF LOOK AT JOINT TASK FORCE-SOUTHWEST ASIA". www.airforcehistoryindex.org. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
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Global Information
United States
United Kingdom
France (until 1998)[1]
Saudi Arabia
Iraq