Iraq

   An Arab state in the Middle East situated in the northeastern portion of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf. Although Iraq does not border Israel, it has been an active participant in the Arab-Israeli conflict for much of the period since 1947 and has fought against Israel in the War of Independence (1948—49), the Six-Day War (1967), and the Yom Kippur War (1973). It was the only Arab country that went to war against Israel in 1948 that refused to sign an armistice agreement. During the 1980s and 1990s, Iraq's pan-Arab Ba'athist regime was increasingly associated with the Arab confrontation states. Iraq was among those Arab states that took the lead against Egyptian president Anwar Sadat's overtures to Israel in 1977 and 1978, it opposed the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty of 1979, and it harbored and supported anti-Israel Palestinian terrorist groups. In 1981, Israel destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor, arguing it was developing nuclear weapons.

   At the same time, during the course of the Iran-Iraq War (from 1980 to the cease-fire of 1988), Baghdad was preoccupied with developments in the gulf area, and the cause against Israel became of much lesser consequence. With the end of gulf hostilities, Israel became increasingly concerned about Iraqi intentions, particularly with the large size, capability, and battle experience of Iraq's military; its ability and willingness to use missiles and chemical and biological warfare in its war with Iran; and its support of the Palestinian cause against Israel.

   The Iraqi attack against and occupation of Kuwait in August 1990 and the crisis that followed confirmed many Israeli fears. During the Persian Gulf War (1991) between Iraq and the international coalition, Iraq launched 39 Scud missiles with conventional warheads in 18 attacks against Israel that killed and wounded Israelis and caused substantial property damage. This unprovoked attack occasioned substantial concern and debate in Israel about an appropriate response. The Yitzhak Shamir-led government decided that it would accede to requests by the United States that it not respond militarily to the aggressive acts by Iraq. Based largely on its Gulf War experience, however, Israel—with U.S. cooperation and assistance—began the development of various mechanisms to improve its capacity to defend against or deter attacks by long-range ballistic missiles.

   Though weakened by international sanctions imposed by the United Nations following the Persian Gulf War, Saddam Hussein's Iraq continued to be considered a military threat by Israel. Specifically, Iraq was believed to be still secretly developing weapons of mass destruction and the capacity to deliver them upon Israel; moreover, despite the sanctions regime, Iraq in the late 1990s became one of the largest benefactors of Palestinian terror against Israel, with Saddam Hussein offering increasingly generous financial packages to the families of young Palestinians who killed themselves in mass-casualty suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians.

   Iraq's defeat in the second gulf war and Saddam Hussein's removal from power and ultimate capture by the U.S.-led multinational coalition was greeted with relief by Israelis. Nevertheless, there was much uncertainty about the implications for Israel and regional peacemaking over the course of events (including the violence and insurgency) in post-Saddam Iraq.