Kuwait updates on missing persons after 34 years of Iraqi invasion

Shafaq News/ On Friday, Kuwaiti authorities reported on the number of missing persons 34 years after the Iraqi invasion led by former President Saddam Hussein.

Fayez Al-Anzi, head of the "Kuwaiti Association of Martyrs, Prisoners, and Missing Persons," told the local newspaper Al-Anbaa that Kuwait has successfully repatriated the remains of 294 individuals from Iraq. However, 311 individuals remain missing, including some of non-Kuwaiti nationality.

Al-Anzi explained that the association, established in 1998, initially focused on gathering information to determine the fate of Kuwaiti prisoners. After the fall of the Iraqi regime, the organization began searching for the remains of Kuwaiti martyrs and missing persons in Iraq. They identified and investigated four sites in Iraq—Samawah, Karbala, Ramadi, and Amarah—where the remains were found.

The Iraqi army invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, and annexed the oil-rich country. It took an international coalition led by the United States about seven months to drive the Iraqi forces out. Following the invasion, Iraq faced a 13-year economic blockade and was required to pay substantial war reparations to Kuwait, which were fully settled by 2021, totaling over $52 billion.