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The Persian Gulf War comprised several Middle East conflicts from 1990 to 2003. The first, codenamed Operation Desert Shield (2 August 1990 – 17 January 1991), led to the buildup of troops in defense of Saudi Arabia. That was followed by Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991  – 28 February 1991) which was a 35 nation coalition force led by the United States in a war in response to Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait. The war was heavily televised. For the first time, people all over the world were able to watch live pictures of missiles hitting their targets and fighters departing from aircraft carriers. The ground campaign consisted of 3 or 4 of the largest tank battles in American military history. The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq War which was also called Operation Iraqi Freedom (20 March 2003 – 1 May 2003) when U.S. President George W. Bush declared the end of conflict. U.S. military forces later remained in Iraq until the withdrawal in 2011.