Voices from the Arab press: A new pathway for Lebanon

Thirty-six years ago, the dawn of August 2, 1990, brought a calamitous invasion of Kuwait, an event that remains etched in the memory of those who lived through it. This historical moment serves as a stark reminder of the region's ongoing struggles with expansionist ambitions, military adventurism, and the persistent threat of war, according to an analysis in Asharq al-Awsat.

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The region remains filled with expansionist ambitions, military adventurism, and the threat of war. The desire to dominate beyond one’s borders still poses an existential challenge to the Gulf states.

Following the brutal Iran-Iraq War, a fragile optimism had settled over the Gulf. However, underlying concerns about the combatant states' intact armies and ambitions lingered. Kuwait, a proponent of Gulf unity since the 1981 formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council, faced an existential challenge when Iraq's leadership, driven by arrogance, miscalculated the consequences of its actions. Dictatorial decision-making, where no one could challenge Saddam Hussein, led to the invasion of a peaceful neighbor.

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Kuwaitis awoke to a treacherous invasion. Thirty-six years have passed, yet those who lived through that period still remember frightening details that may never appear in books, while the generation born afterward knows the story through families who experienced it.

The occupation was accompanied by a vicious media war, but it also revealed Kuwait's strong national cohesion. The Gulf states perceived the aggression as an attack on themselves, offering refuge to displaced Kuwaitis and mobilizing to end the occupation, with Riyadh playing a prominent role. The invasion was fundamentally treated as a matter of collective security.

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Iraq’s leadership was carried by arrogance into calculations that quickly proved catastrophic. As later memoirs revealed, no one in government was able to challenge Saddam Hussein’s decisions; such is the nature of dictatorship.

Amidst these extraordinary conditions, Kuwait's leadership navigated both domestic and foreign affairs. The late Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah's address to the United Nations General Assembly in September 1990 was met with prolonged applause, underscoring the international condemnation of Iraq's actions. The article suggests that the desire to dominate beyond one's borders continues to pose a significant challenge to the Gulf states today.

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The Gulf states treated the aggression as an attack on themselves. They received Kuwaitis forced from their homes and mobilized to end the occupation, with Riyadh at the forefront alongside every Gulf capital. The central truth is that the Gulf regarded the invasion as a matter of collective security.