Home > War in the Persian Gulf > Jabir Sabah Biography

Born June 29, 1926

Kuwait City, Kuwait

Ruler of Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War

"I came here to tell you of the horrors and suffering we are enduring both inside and outside our occupied homeland.... Now, the fate of a people, of a nation, is in your hands."

Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah in a speech before the UN Security Council.

The small but wealthy Middle Eastern nation of Kuwait was the main focus of the Persian Gulf War when Iraq invaded its neighbor to the south in August 1990. The emir (ruler) of Kuwait at this time was Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah. Jabir and his royal family barely escaped the country as the Iraqi military forces approached. In exile in Saudi Arabia, the emir made numerous appeals to the world community to help liberate his country from Iraq's brutal occupation. In January 1991 the U.S.-led coalition made up of thirty-five...