page_title: Operation Provide Comfort
section_title: Operation Provide Comfort II
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Provide Comfort / Operation Provide Comfort II
context_page_description: Operation Provide Comfort and Provide Comfort II were military operations initiated by the United States and other Coalition nations of the Persian Gulf War, starting in April 1991, to defend Kurdish civilians fleeing their homes in northern Iraq in the aftermath of the Gulf War and deliver humanitarian aid to them.
context_section_description: Operation Provide Comfort II began on 24 July 1991, the same day Provide Comfort ended. This operation was primarily military in nature, and its mission was to prevent Iraqi aggression against the Kurds.
  Partly as a result of Western commitment to the Kurds, Iraqi troops were withdrawn from the Kurdish regions in October 1991 and these areas assumed de facto independence.
  On 5 April 1992, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force bombed bases in northern Iraq belonging to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran. Iraqi jets were scrambled to intercept the intruders while Coalition aircraft did not interfere.
  On 15 January 1993, Iraqi air defense sites opened fire on two USAF F-111 bombers. On 17 January, Iraqi Su-22s fired on two F-16 jets, and a US F-4 Phantom destroyed an Iraqi radar which had been targeting French reconnaissance aircraft. Around a half-hour later, a US F-16 shot down an Iraqi MiG-23 Flogger which had crossed into the no-fly zone. The next day, US F-16s bombed Bashiqah Airfield and F-4 Phantoms attacked Iraqi air defense sites. Over the next few days and months, more Iraqi sites fired on the American patrols, and several were attacked. That August, the USAF deployed the F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft to Turkey, and on 18 August, these aircraft dropped four laser-guided bombs on an Iraqi SA-3 site near Mosul.
  On 14 April 1994, two USAF F-15 Eagle fighters on patrol mistakenly downed two US Army Black Hawk helicopters carrying 26 Coalition citizens, killing all aboard.
  On 9 December 1995, F-4 Phantom II aircraft of the Idaho Air National Guard finished their tour of duty with Combined Task Force Provide Comfort at Incirlik Air Base. This was the last operational use of the F-4 Phantom by the USAF.
  In August 1996, Iraqi troops intervened in the Kurdish regions of Iraq, and the United States responded with Operation Desert Strike against targets in southern Iraq. As a result, some incidents occurred in northern Iraq, and the United States launched an operation to evacuate certain pro-American Kurds from northern Iraq.
  The operation ended officially on 31 December 1996 at the request of the Government of Turkey who wanted to improve relations with Iran and Iraq. It was followed by Operation Northern Watch, which began on 1 January 1997 with the mission of enforcing the northern no-fly zone. France declined to participate in Operation Northern Watch.
caption: Air controllers aboard an E-3 Sentry in 1995 during Operation Provide Comfort II
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "US Air Force weapons control officers onboard an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft prepare for a mission over Turkey in support of the operation.  This operation is a security mission to enforce the United Nations no-fly zone north of the 36 degree parallel from Iraqi air and ground incursion.  A four nation coalition of US, Turkey, Great Britain and France has been actively protecting and supplying Kurdish refugees since Desert Storm in 1991.\n(Exact date unknown)", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "284", "Image YResolution": "284", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2005:04:06 15:47:05", "Image Artist": "SrA Gudrun Cook", "Image ExifOffset": "704", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "842", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7452", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2840", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1870"}