GULF CRISIS : CHRONOLOGY

Following are the main developments in the Persian Gulf crisis from Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 through the formal end of military operations Thursday:

Aug. 2: Iraq invades Kuwait at 2 a.m. (local). Emir flees to Saudi Arabia. United Nations Security Council condemns occupation 14-0 and demands Iraqis withdraw.

Aug. 6: Security Council agrees 13-0 to ban trade with Iraq except for medicine and food for humanitarian relief.

Aug. 8: Iraq declares Kuwait its 19th province.

Aug 10: Twelve Arab leaders agree to send pan-Arab force to protect Saudi Arabia.

Aug. 12: In what Iraq calls new initiative to resolve the crisis, President Saddam Hussein demands withdrawal of Israel from occupied Arab territory and Syrian forces from Lebanon.

Aug. 16: Iraq orders 4,000 Britons and 2,500 Americans in Kuwait to report to hotels or be rounded up. It later says it will hold Westerners as human shields against attack.

Sept. 9: President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Helsinki, urge Iraq to quit Kuwait.

Oct. 15: Bush says Saddam could be held accountable for atrocities in Kuwait -- “Remember ... the Nuremberg trials.”

Nov. 29: U.N. Security Council votes 12-2 to authorize use of force against Iraq unless it withdraws from Kuwait by Jan. 15.

Dec. 6: Saddam orders release of all foreign hostages.

Jan. 9: Secretary of State James Baker and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tareq Aziz fail to find peaceful solution in Geneva meeting.

Jan. 12: U.S. Congress votes for war.

Jan. 13: U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar meets Saddam but fails to persuade him to give up Kuwait.

Jan. 17: U.S.-led allied forces start Gulf War with air offensive against Iraqi installations in Iraq and Kuwait.

Jan. 21: Iraq says it is using captured airmen as human shields at strategic locations.

Jan. 25: U.S. accuses Iraq of pumping oil into Gulf, creating a huge oil slick.

Jan. 31: Saudi forces recapture Khafji near Saudi-Kuwaiti border after more than 30 hours of fighting against Iraqis.

Feb. 6: Iraq accuses allied forces of trying to bomb it out of 20th century and cuts diplomatic ties with United States, Britain, France, Italy, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Feb. 13: Two allied bombs hit packed Baghdad building which Iraq calls air raid shelter and United States describes as a military bunker. Iraq says nearly 300 civilians, mostly women and children, killed.

Feb. 15: Iraq makes its first formal proposal to withdraw from Kuwait but says pullout should be linked to several issues including Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories; U.S. and allies reject Iraqi proposal but Moscow welcomes it.

Feb. 18: Gorbachev presents Aziz in Moscow with a plan to end war. White House reacts cautiously, says war continues.

Feb. 19: Bush says Soviet plan “falls well short” of U.S. requirements for ending the war.

Feb. 22: Bush and allies demand Iraq begin a withdrawal from Kuwait by noon EST Feb. 23 or face a ground campaign. Moscow announces a refined peace plan providing for a 3-week withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait following a cease-fire.

Feb. 24: U.S.-led alliance launches ground offensive to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait after expiration of deadline for Iraq to begin withdrawal.

Feb. 25: In Iraq’s most destructive strike of war, Scud missile hits U.S. military barracks in Saudi Arabia, killing 28 Americans and wounding scores.

Feb. 26: Iraq, its forces virtually surrounded, announces it is withdrawing from Kuwait. Washington says war will go on.

Feb. 27: Bush declares victory over Iraq, says Kuwait is liberated and orders allied combat suspended at midnight (8 a.m. Feb. 28 Gulf time) unless Iraqi forces attack. He says a permanent cease-fire depends on Iraq’s release of prisoners of war and Kuwaiti detainees and compliance with all U.N. resolutions on Kuwait including “acceptance in principle of Iraq’s responsibility to pay compensation” for war damages. Western diplomats at U.N. say Iraq accepts all resolutions.

Feb. 28: Saddam orders his troops to cease fire.