KUWAIT: People of Kuwait recall the country's liberation from the Iraqi occupation on the occasion of the country's 31st Liberation Day. They remember the great sacrifices made by the patriots for freedom of the homeland. Although, Kuwait's invasion on August 2, 1990, was quite a brutal one, the Kuwaiti people rebuffed the aggression affirming their solidarity with the legitimate leadership that had been headed by the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for defending the homeland's sovereignty and freedom.

The late Amir, despite enormous challenges at the time, masterminded a national campaign to rally international support for the just Kuwaiti cause. In his historic address to the United Nations, Sheikh Jaber had stated, "I have come with a message from people who love and have worked for peace, aiding those in need and reconciling adversaries." Their security and stability have been jeopardized due to their belief in the ideal message of our religion Islam that is also stipulated by international charters." I came with a message of people whose territories were a minaret for peaceful co-existence and brotherhood and nowadays they lost their land but refused to surrender to the occupation no matter how brutal and repressive it may be."

Sheikh Jaber had succeeded in drawing solidarity from various states and organizations, namely the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), that proved to be the core for diplomatic efforts against the aggression, demanding unconditional withdrawal of the occupiers. GCC foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Cairo on August 3, 1990, and lobbied for holding an extraordinary Arab summit in the Egyptian capital on August 10.

Thanks to efforts by GCC countries, other brotherly and friendly states, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) issued a series of resolution namely resolution 660 that condemned the aggression demanding unconditional pullout of the occupiers and resolution 678 that supported necessary means to implement the relevant resolutions, restore regional security and peace in addition to several others that called for wiping out the repercussions of the aggression.

KUWAIT: In this file photo taken on February 26, 1991, Kuwaiti resistance fighters celebrate with a member of the US Marine Special forces (center) after the Marines entered the small town of Sabahiah, 9 miles from the capital of Kuwait City. - AFP file photo

Moreover, the brotherly and friendly countries put military and material resources at the disposal of liberating Kuwait. Worth recalling was also the crucial role played by late Father Amir Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah who commanded the liberation heroes and facilitated settlement of the Amir Sheikh Jaber in Saudi Arabia where he set up a government in exile securing honorable livelihood for Kuwaitis in and outside Kuwait as well as supporting the national resistance.

For his part, the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah employed his diplomatic expertise for securing international sympathy that led to driving the aggressors out of the country. Furthermore, the Kuwaitis recall, on the occasion, the pivotal role played by the late Saudi King Fahad Bin Abdulaziz who hosted the Kuwaitis in his country and contributed with material and military support. Other GCC states had followed suit supporting the Kuwaitis during the hard times and rejecting the flagrant aggression on their homeland.

The late US President George Bush senior had instantly declared siding with Kuwait in the face of the aggression and Washington lobbied for holding an emergency session of the UNSC during which resolution 660 was adopted, demanding withdrawal of the aggressors from Kuwait. On January 19, 1990, Bush persuaded the US Senate of the necessity to employ military force for liberating Kuwait, declaring a war on the Iraqi occupiers and the commitment to free the country.

Although the Kuwaiti people were deeply bruised with the aggression, a campaign was launched in 1993 to aid the Iraqi people. The Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society (KRCS) upon instructions by the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad dispatched aid to the Iraqi refugees in Iran as of April 1995, choosing to side with the stricken Iraqi people from humanitarian considerations and sentiments. Additionally, Kuwait in the wake of the fall of the defunct Iraqi regime provided relief supplies, in 2003, to the Iraqi refugees and the displaced elsewhere.

In July 2016, Kuwait pledged $176 million worth of aid for Iraq at an international donors' conference. Kuwait, after it was designated as "the center for humanitarian action" by the UN, hosted, in February 2018, an international convention for supporting Iraq's reconstruction. Stakeholders pledged $30 billion in aid to help the Iraqis who had suffered from a series of wars. The late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad visited Iraq on June 19, 2019, seeking to preserve brotherly ties and fold files of sticking issues, an approach maintained by the current Amir, His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. - KUNA