It’s 30 years since Iraq’s army under Saddam Hussein invaded neighbouring Kuwait and changed the course of history.
The crisis marked the start of the first Gulf War, as the United States under George Bush senior intervened to drive Iraq’s forces back across their own border.
The conflict created a new instability in the Middle East. The second Gulf war saw the invasion of Iraq and toppling of Saddam by a US-led coalition which included the UK.
Iraq disintegrated into civil war and an insurgency that fuelled support for the extremist Islamists of Al Qaeda — and later the Islamic State group.
Our World Affairs Editor John Simpson reported on the two Gulf wars as they unfolded — and the upheavals that followed across the Middle East and the rest of the world.
Clive Myrie presents a BBC News at Ten special report from John Simpson reflecting on Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait three decades ago — and the reverberations which continue to this day.
