The 1983 Kuwait bombings were attacks on six key installations on 12 December 1983, two months after the
1983 Beirut barracks bombing. The 90-minute coordinated attack on two embassies, the country's
main airport, and
petro-chemical plant was more notable for the damage it was intended to cause than what was actually destroyed. What might have been "the worst
terrorist episode of the twentieth century in the
Middle East" killed only six people because of the bombs' faulty rigging. The perpetrators of the bombing were unknown but were purported to be connected to the
Islamic Republic of Iran. The motivation of the bombing is suspected to have been punishment against Kuwait for its military and financial assistance to
Iraq in the
Iran–Iraq War.
Bombings On 12 December 1983, a truck laden with 45 large cylinders of gas connected to
plastic explosives broke through the front gates of the American Embassy in
Kuwait City and rammed into the embassy's three-story administrative annex, demolishing half the structure. The shock blew out windows and doors in distant homes and shops. Five people were initially killed (two
Palestinians, two
Kuwaitis, and one
Syrian). The death toll was not higher in large part because the driver did not hit the more heavily populated
chancellery building and more importantly, only a quarter of the explosives ignited. An American
diplomat told journalist
Robin Wright: "If everything had gone off, this place would have been a
parking lot". Five other explosions were attempted within an hour. An hour later, a car parked outside the French embassy blew up, leaving a massive 30 ft hole in the embassy security wall and injuring five people. The target intended to get the most powerful explosion was Kuwait's main
oil refinery and water
desalination plant, the Shuaiba Petrochemical Plant. 150
gas cylinders on a truck carrying 200 cylinders exploded 150 meters from the No. 2 refinery and only a few meters from a highly flammable heap of sulfa-based chemicals. Had that bombing been successful, it would have crippled the oil production of one of the world's major oil exporters and shut down most of the water supply of the nation. Other
car bombs exploded at the control tower at the
Kuwait International Airport, the Electricity Control Center, and the living quarters for American employees of the
Raytheon Corporation, which was installing a missile system in Kuwait. Two bombs at Raytheon went off, the first intended to bring the residents outside and the second intended to kill. The attempt failed as the residents did not emerge. An
Egyptian technician was killed in the control tower bombing, but none of the other bombings resulted in fatalities. The bombing of the American embassy was an early instance of
suicide bombing in the Middle East, along with the
Hezbollah's bombing of the
American Embassy and the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon earlier that year in which Hezbollah is suspected to be the orchestrator.
Responsibility Islamic Jihad Organization and
Islamic Dawa Party were reported at the time to be involved in the bombing. Shortly after the blasts, Islamic Jihad called Kuwaiti authorities to take responsibility for the blast. The claim was taken seriously after the callers' boast that there was a "seventh bomb" was verified by the discovery of a car bomb in front of the Immigration Bureau. Islamic Dawa was connected to the bombing when the remains of a human thumb were found and its thumbprint identified as that of Raad Murtin Ajeel, a 25-year-old Iraqi
Shia member of Dawa. Ultimately, 21 other defendants were put on trial (17 captured in a nationwide manhunt and 4 tried in absentia). After a six-week trial, six were sentenced to death (three of those were in absentia), seven to life imprisonment, seven to terms between five and fifteen years. One of those convicted by a court in Kuwait in February 2007 was Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, more commonly known by his nom de guerre as
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was a member of
Kata'ib Hezbollah and Iraq's parliament and military commander of the
Popular Mobilization Forces.
Motivation Analysts believe the bombings were the work of Iran in cooperation with Shia allies from Iraq and Lebanon. Kuwait had given considerable support to Iraq in the 1980–1988
Iran–Iraq War. Between 1983 and 1984, Kuwait provided $7 billion in financial assistance and was second to Saudi Arabia in aiding Iraq, Massive destruction and loss of life in Kuwait would also have provided an example to the other oil-rich, population-poor, Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf, also helping Iraq against its larger, non-Arab, anti-monarchist revolutionary Islamic neighbor. In 1985, the
Arab States of the Persian Gulf provided Iraq with financial contributions, totaling in the range of $40 to 50 billion. Americans and the French are thought to have been targets in Kuwait because of their assistance to Iraq and lack of help to Iran. America had halted all shipments of arms to Iran, and extended $2 billion in trade credit to Iraq in "
Operation Staunch" in 1983.
Response The blasts were said to have taken the
Kuwaiti government "completely by surprise" and left it dumbfounded, terrified and shaken to their core that such a well-organized terrorist operation could have taken place under their noses. According to the
Monday Morning gazette, the hitherto relaxed nation was transformed into a "police state," with roundups of
foreign workers, numerous roadblocks, identity checks, and guardsmen under orders to "shoot whoever refused to stop or be searched."
Pressure on Kuwait to free the bombers Of the "Kuwait 17", 12 were
Iraqis in al-Dawa, and 3 were
Lebanese. One was
Mustafa Badreddine, who was sentenced to death. He was also a cousin and brother-in-law of one of
Hezbollah's senior officers,
Imad Mugniyah. "Analysts say,... there is little doubt Mugniyeh and Al Din helped plan December 1983 bombings in Kuwait against the U.S. and French embassies there...." Both the organization of Hezbollah and the
Islamic Republic of Iran and the location of Dawa's headquarters helped free their fellow Shia revolutionaries in Kuwait. In Lebanon, Western hostages, including American Frank Regier and
Frenchman Christian Joubert, were held by Shia radicals demanding the release of the al-Dawa terrorists as the price of the hostages' release. On 27 March 1984, following the conviction of the al-Da'wa defendants, the hostage takers threatened to kill their hostages if the Kuwaiti government carried through with the planned execution of the al-Dawa prisoners. A month later, American Benjamin Weir was kidnapped by actors demanding the same.
Anglican hostage negotiator
Terry Waite appealed to the
emir of Kuwait and tried to obtain a
visa to come to Kuwait. His failure to make progress in freeing the convicted terrorists is thought to be the reason that he himself was kidnapped and spent five years as a hostage. Although those sentenced to death were to be hanged within 30 days, the emir of Kuwait did not sign their death sentence. The executions were delayed for years until the men escaped.
Iran Chief Kuwaiti government spokesman Abdel Aziz Hussein called the bombings "the first concentrated Iranian operation to
export the revolution and destabilize the
Persian Gulf after Iran failed to infiltrate the Iraqi [war] front." Kuwait was threatened with further attacks if the defendants were not released, with Tehran Radio regularly broadcasting warnings from Dawa that Kuwait would face "serious consequences" if the "heroes" standing trial were harmed. ==1984 oil tanker attacks==