Iraq–Kuwait relations occupied El-Samitah near the Kuwaiti border, which evoked an international crisis. The Iraqi forces eventually withdrew under Saudi pressure. In 1990, Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing Iraqi oil through slant drilling, however some Iraqi sources indicated Saddam Hussein's decision to attack Kuwait was made only a few months before the actual invasion. There were several reasons for the Iraq move, including Iraq's inability to pay more than $80 billion that had been borrowed to finance the war with Iran and also Kuwaiti overproduction of oil which kept oil revenues down for Iraq. The invasion started on 2 August 1990, and
Iraq–Kuwait barrier barriers as illegally separating two parts of Iraqi territory. Iraq–Kuwait barrier The Iraq–Kuwait barrier ( "Hudud al-'Irāq-al-Kuwayt") is a border fence extending six miles (10 km) into Iraq, three miles (5 km) into Kuwait, and across the full length of their mutual border from Saudi Arabia to the Persian Gulf. Constructed by authorization of the United Nations Security Council, its stated purpose was to stop a re-invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. The border barrier, made of electrified fencing and concertina wire, is braced by a -wide and -deep trench, complete with a -high dirt berm and guarded by hundreds of