Following the 1991 Gulf War, the United States along with other Coalition nations established two no-fly zones in Iraq. U.S. and Coalition officials stated that the northern no-fly zone was intended to prevent attacks against the Kurdish people by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, and that the southern no-fly-zone was intended to protect Iraq's Shia population. On March 16, 1988, the Iraqi Air Force deployed chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians during the Halabja chemical attack, killing 5,000. This air-to-ground event served as part of the motivation used by Coalition Forces in order to extend and expand the NFZs, as well as citing parts of Chapter 42 within the U.N. Charter. The southern no-fly zone originally extended to the 32nd parallel but was extended to the 33rd parallel in 1996.