Katana VentraIP

Highway of Death

The Highway of Death (Arabic: طريق الموت ṭarīq al-mawt) is a six-lane highway between Kuwait and Iraq, officially known as Highway 80. It runs from Kuwait City to the border town of Safwan in Iraq and then on to the Iraqi city of Basra. The road was used by Iraqi armored divisions for the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It was repaired after the Gulf War and used by U.S. and British forces in the initial stages of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[5]

This article is about the road between Kuwait and Basra. For the Road of Death in Bolivia, see Yungas Road. For the site of numerous murders and disappearances in Canada, see Highway of Tears. For other similarly named roads, see Slaughter alley.

During the American-led coalition offensive in the Persian Gulf War, American, Canadian, British and French aircraft and ground forces attacked retreating Iraqi military personnel attempting to leave Kuwait on the night of February 26–27, 1991, resulting in the destruction of hundreds of vehicles and the deaths of many of their occupants. Between 1,400 and 2,000 vehicles were hit or abandoned on the main Highway 80 north of Al Jahra.


The scenes of devastation on the road are some of the most recognizable images of the war, and it has been suggested that they were a factor in President George H. W. Bush's decision to declare a cessation of hostilities the next day.[6] Many Iraqi forces successfully escaped across the Euphrates river, and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency estimated that upwards of 70,000 to 80,000 troops from defeated divisions in Kuwait might have fled into Basra, evading capture.[7]

In 1991, commissioned British anti-war poet Tony Harrison to commemorate the war, and in particular the Highway of Death.[17] His poem, A Cold Coming, began with an ekphrastic representation of a graphic photograph taken on Highway 8 by photojournalist Kenneth Jarecke.

The Guardian

The 1992 song "Hero" by the band Ministry directly mentions the Highway of Death at the end of its first verse.

Industrial Metal

's 1993 novel Complicity has chapter 12 (of 13) called "Basra Road" and uses the imagery, although not the phrase.

Iain Banks

Galician band recorded 'Autopista de Basora' for their 1993 album Made in Japan.[18]

Siniestro Total

The 2005 film contains a scene in which a group of U.S. Marines pass through the Highway of Death.

Jarhead

In the 2019 video game , a similarly bombarded road in the fictional middle-eastern country of Urzikstan is named the Highway of Death.[19] In this instance the attack is carried out by Russian forces, which led to accusations against the game of historical revisionism.[20][21]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Roads in Kuwait

Battle of the Junkyard

(Todesgang)

Death Road

Hell's Highway (disambiguation)

Raate Road

Operation Mersad

– At the end of this battle, U.S. and Iraqi forces performed a similar large-scale bombing campaign against retreating ISIL militants

Battle of Fallujah (2016)

Photographs of destroyed military equipment taken by a contemporary American serviceman

Highway of Death photographs taken in 1991 by a Kuwaiti journalist

A high-resolution map of Kuwait. Highway 80 leads north from Kuwait city, via Al Jahra