Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, triggered the first major international conflict of the post-Cold War era, as Saddam Hussein sought to occupy and annex the oil-rich sheikdom and potentially dominate the Persian Gulf region. After the United Nations Security Council demanded Iraq withdraw and imposed sanctions, President George H.W. Bush assembled a coalition of more than thirty nations in Saudi Arabia under Operation Desert Shield to protect Saudi Arabia and pressure Iraq to leave Kuwait. When Iraq refused to comply by the January 15, 1991, deadline, coalition forces under Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf launched Operation Desert Storm on January 16, beginning a massive air campaign against Iraqi military, government, communications, industrial targets, and Iraqi positions in Kuwait, featuring extensive use of precision-guided weapons, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and live television coverage. Iraq responded with Scud missile attacks on Saudi Arabia and Israel, raising fears of chemical or biological warfare, while Patriot missiles intercepted many of the incoming attacks. On February 24, 1991, coalition forces opened the ground offensive known as Operation Desert Sabre, and weakened, demoralized Iraqi troops largely surrendered as U.S. and Arab forces advanced into Kuwait and southern Iraq. After a failed stand by the Republican Guard near Al-Basrah on February 27, coalition forces fully liberated Kuwait, pushed Iraqi troops back into Iraq, and President Bush declared a cease-fire on February 28, ending a forty-four-day war and a one-hundred-hour ground campaign in a total coalition victory. The war's aftermath left unresolved issues over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, leading to U.N. inspections through the 1990s, renewed tensions after 1998, and a later U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that became known as the Iraq War.