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Iraq invades Kuwait
 The invading Iraqi army
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Iraqi troops invade Kuwait on August 2 1990, taking the emirate in one day. In his report, the BBC's John Simpson explains how the West inadvertently helped bring about the invasion.
Sanctions squeeze
 Interior of UN Security Council
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Four days later, the United Nations Security Council demands an "immediate and unconditional" withdrawal of Iraqi troops and orders a trade boycott. And it sets a deadline of January 15 1991 for a voluntary withdrawal from Kuwait.
Air strikes begin
 F18 warplane pilot on the USS Enterprise in the Gulf
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Operation Desert Storm is launched, with air attacks on Iraq and Kuwait. The BBC's John Simpson is in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and witnesses the missile attacks.
Iraqi shelter hit
 Allied air raid in residential area of Baghdad
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On February 13, the allies bomb an air raid shelter in a residential area of Baghdad. At least 314 Iraqi civilians are killed. The allies say it was listed as a military installation. Iraqi officials take the BBC's Jeremy Bowen to see the aftermath.
Ten years on-airmen remember
 Wing Commander "Moose" Poole of II Squadron
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In the opening stages of the war, the lead military role was taken by allied air forces backed up by special forces on the ground. Servicemen talk to the BBC's Paul Welsh about their memories of the first night of attacks a decade ago.
The Iraqi war shrine
 A decade later-the civilian shelter that was hit by allied planes
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The bombed shelter where several hundred civilians perished a decade ago is now a shrine to the dead, whose photographs line the soot-blackened walls. Those who continue to mourn speak to the BBC's Lee-Anne Duncan.
The human cost
 Threshing wheat in Iraq
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The price of the conflict remains high for the people of Iraq, in terms of health scares-due to delpeted uranium weapons- and the economy-due to to sanctions, as the BBC's Barbara Plett reports from Basra in southern Iraq.
Kuwait's missing people
 Sister of a missing Kuwaiti, Ahlam Al Qabandi
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Kuwait has recovered materially, but its people continue to grieve for more than 600 missing and unaccounted for prisoners. Iraq denies that it has any information on their whereabouts, although there have been numerous reported sightings.
Divisions in Kuwait
 Women studying in Kuwait
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Since the Gulf War, Kuwait has embraced many of the trappings of the West-but, as the BBC's Frank Gardner reports, there is not the full democracy some had hoped for.
Protests in Iraq
 Iraqi demonstrators call for the end of sanctions at the UN offices in Baghdad
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Hundreds of people hold a demonstration in Baghdad on the tenth anniversary of the start of the allied bombing of Iraq, calling for UN sanctions to be lifted. The BBC's Rageh Omaar is in the Iraqi capital.
The tenacious leader
 Saddam Hussein addresses the nation on Iraqi television
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The President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, has been in power since 1979, surviving the war with Iran from 1980 to 1988 as well as the Gulf War. He has stood firm in the face of international sanctions which have devastated the Iraqi economy. Most recently he attempted to quash rumours of ill health by making a televised speech. Reporting from Cairo, the BBC's Frank Gardner reports on reaction to the address.
Click here to watch the speech in full with English translation
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