1998 bombing of Iraq

Operation Desert Fox
Part of the prelude to the Iraq War
A Tomahawk cruise missile is fired from an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer during Operation Desert Fox in December 1998
Location	Iraq
Commanded by	Bill Clinton William Cohen Anthony Zinni Tony Blair George Robertson Michael Boyce
Date	16–19 December 1998
Executed by	United States Armed Forces  Royal Air Force
Outcome	Coalition military success[1] Politically inconclusive[1] Much of Iraqi military infrastructure destroyed Iraq bars weapon inspectors from returning Iraq begins shooting at British and American planes in the Iraqi no-fly zones
Casualties	242–1,400 Iraqi soldiers killed or wounded 120 Civilians killed or wounded (according to the Red Cross) All targets were destroyed or suffered varying levels of damage (United States claim)

The 1998 bombing of Iraq (code-named Operation Desert Fox) was a major bombing campaign against Iraqi targets, from 16 to 19 December 1998, by the United States and the United Kingdom. On 16 December 1998 Bill Clinton announced that he had ordered strikes against Iraq. The strikes were launched due to Iraq's failure to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions and its interference with United Nations inspectors that were searching for potential weapons of mass destruction. The inspectors had been sent to Iraq in 1997 and were repeatedly refused access to certain sites.

The operation was a major flare-up in the Iraq disarmament crisis as it involved a direct attack on Iraq. The aim of the bombing was to disable military and security targets which may have enabled Iraq to produce, store, maintain, and deliver weapons of mass destruction. The bombing campaign had been anticipated earlier in the year and faced criticism both in the U.S. and from members of the international community.^[2] Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates initially announced they would deny the U.S. military the use of local bases for the purpose of air strikes against Iraq.^[3]

The bombing was criticized by Clinton's detractors, who accused him of using the bombing to direct attention away from the ongoing impeachment proceedings he was facing.