the gulf war ( 2 august unk february 1991 ) , codenamed operation desert shield ( 2 august unk january 1991 ) for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense Defending of saudi arabia and operation desert storm Catastrophe ( 17 january unk february 1991 ) in its combat Hostile_encounter phase , was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the united states against iraq in response Response to iraq 's invasion Attack and annexation of kuwait arising Coming_to_be from oil pricing and production disputes .

the invasion started Process_start on 2 august 1990 , and within two days most of the kuwait armed forces were either overrun by the iraqi republican guard or fell Motion_directional back to neighbouring saudi arabia and bahrain .