The Palestinian exodus from Kuwait took place during and after the Gulf War. There were 400,000 Palestinians living in Kuwait before the state was invaded by neighbouring Iraq in August 1990. During the subsequent Iraqi military occupation of the country, some 200,000 Palestinians left due to various reasons such as fear of persecution, food and medical care shortages, financial difficulties, and fear of arrest or mistreatment at roadblocks by Iraqi troops. After Operation Desert Storm, which saw Iraqi forces defeated and pushed out of Kuwait by a United States-led coalition, another 200,000 Palestinians fled Kuwait, partly due to economic burdens, regulations on residence and fear of abuse by Kuwaiti security forces. The policy which partly led to this exodus was a response to the alignment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in favour of the Iraqi invasion as well as PLO leader Yasser Arafat's support for Saddam Hussein, the then President of Iraq.