Kuwait

Overview

Kuwait is a sovereign state on the northwestern shore of the Persian Gulf, bordered by Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Its capital, Kuwait City, developed around maritime trade and became the center of an oil-producing state. Major trading families chose the House of Sabah to administer their affairs and provide security. Kuwait had emerged as a distinct country and people by 1752, and it declared independence in 1961. Its history as an independent polity preceded Iraq’s attempt to annex it in 1990. The invasion, seven-month occupation and liberation in the Gulf War remain central to Kuwaiti national life and security policy.^[1][4]

Kuwait combines hereditary rule with a history of elected parliamentary politics. Its National Assembly has questioned ministers, challenged governments and even removed an emir, while the ruling family has retained decisive executive authority. Since May 2024, Emir Mishal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah has governed by decree after shutting down the newly elected assembly and suspending constitutional provisions. Abroad, Kuwait belongs to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), hosts major United States forces and has mediated disputes among Gulf states. It has declined to normalize relations with Israel and maintains a boycott that has excluded Israeli passengers from its state airline.^{[3][5][11][12]}

Geography

Kuwait occupies a low-lying stretch of the northern Persian Gulf coast. Its position near southern Iraq gives it strategic importance for access to the northern Gulf, while its ports and energy facilities connect its economy to maritime trade. Bubiyan Island lies near the Iraqi border. Kuwait’s limited territory and proximity to larger neighbors have shaped its defense planning, particularly since Iraq’s invasion. The country has relied on coastal infrastructure, oil facilities and foreign security partnerships to sustain an economy whose most important exports move by sea.^[3][4]

Like Bahrain and Qatar, Kuwait has few alternative land or sea routes when passage through the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted. That dependence makes attacks on shipping, ports and energy networks consequential beyond the immediate damage. During the Iranian regime’s 2026 missile and drone campaign, Kuwaiti energy infrastructure and civilian networks were struck alongside American facilities. The country’s geography therefore links its domestic economic security to the wider security of Gulf sea lanes.^[3]

History

Kuwait’s development as a distinct state began before modern Iraq existed. Kuwait was identifiable as a country and people by 1752. A British protective agreement followed in 1899, and a 1913 British–Ottoman agreement addressed its boundaries. Kuwait declared independence in 1961. Iraq asserted a claim at that time, prompting Kuwait to seek British and Arab protection, but did not invade. A subsequent agreement with Iraq recognized Kuwaiti sovereignty, and Kuwait joined the United Nations. These milestones establish why Saddam Hussein’s later annexation attempt was an invasion of a sovereign neighbor.^[1]

During the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988, Kuwait backed Iraq against Iran politically and financially. Its support totaled about $30 billion. Kuwaiti leaders saw the prolonged war and the Iranian regime’s regional ambitions as threats to their small state, although support for Iraq left serious disputes over debt and security after the fighting ended. Iraq’s leadership then turned on Kuwait. On August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces crossed the border and rapidly seized the country. President George H. W. Bush condemned the aggression and identified longstanding United States interests in the Gulf, including the security of its oil supplies.^[1][4]

Iraqi forces occupied Kuwait for seven months. Soldiers tortured and killed hundreds of civilians, took thousands hostage and pillaged the country. Sheikh Faud al-Ahmad al-Sabah remained to defend the ruling family’s home and was shot and killed. A United States-led coalition, acting under UN authorization, fought the Gulf War to expel Iraqi forces and liberated Kuwait in 1991. Retreating troops set fire to about 700 Kuwaiti oil wells, causing extensive economic and environmental damage. The United States fought to reverse Iraq’s invasion and protect Gulf interests. Israel remained outside combat at Washington’s request, even after Iraqi Scud attacks on Israel.^[4][14]

Liberation did not settle every consequence of the occupation. By February 1996, Saddam Hussein’s regime had failed to account for more than 600 prisoners of war, return stolen goods or provide sufficient compensation for the damage. An Iraqi military buildup near Kuwait in 1994 had already prompted deployment of nearly 30,000 American service members to the Gulf. The experience shaped how the House of Sabah and other Kuwaiti leaders assessed regional threats. Kuwait later sought to rebuild relations with Iraq, while preferring that unresolved international disputes remain under UN auspices.^[2][4][7]

Jewish history

Kuwait’s modern relationship with Jews is most visible in its policies toward Israel and in material distributed through state institutions. An Anti-Defamation League examination of textbooks used in the 2021–22 school year found that an eighth-grade Islamic Education book taught that Jews inherently break pacts and stir up strife. A twelfth-grade religious-studies book also contained derogatory material concerning Ahmadis, Baháʼís and Christians. Teaching inherited negative traits about Jews is Jew hatred, regardless of Kuwait’s diplomatic position toward Israel. Such material gives prejudice official educational standing rather than presenting Jewish people or Judaism as subjects of historical study.^[10]

Public circulation of Jew-hating works has also drawn scrutiny. Monitoring of online catalogs for state-run book fairs included the Kuwait City fair from December 2018 through December 2019. Its catalog placed Mein Kampf and The International Jew under Children’s Books, giving those works troubling visibility in a category intended for young readers. These episodes concern identifiable state textbooks and a public book-fair catalog; they do not define the views of every Kuwaiti resident. They do, however, show how anti-Jewish ideas have appeared in institutions with official standing.^[10]

Government and politics

Kuwait is a hereditary emirate ruled by the House of Sabah. Its parliament was elected in the period covered by the 2019 United States human-rights report, and the 2016 general election was generally free and fair, with opposition candidates winning seats. The amir nevertheless held ultimate authority over most government decisions. The ruling family traditionally reserved the premiership and the defense, foreign and interior ministries for its members. Parliament could question senior Sabah ministers and hold no-confidence votes, giving elected members meaningful means to challenge the executive even when they could not choose the prime minister.^[5]

Succession has demonstrated both dynastic control and parliamentary power. The emirate traditionally alternated between the Jaber and Salem branches of Mubarak al-Sabah’s descendants. In 2003, Kuwait separated the posts of crown prince and prime minister; the emir continued to select the prime minister from the ruling family. After Emir Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah took office in January 2006, parliament exercised a previously unused constitutional power and voted to remove him because of health concerns. His reign lasted nine days. Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah then became emir, ending the established alternation between branches and removing a competing family branch from senior posts. The National Assembly must also confirm an emir’s choice of successor.^[5]

Reform demands intensified in 2011. Youth groups and parliamentary opponents united against corruption and sought to replace Nasser Muhammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the appointed prime minister since 2006. Their campaign challenged the concentration of posts in the ruling family and pressed for greater parliamentary accountability. In October, Foreign Minister Muhammad al-Sabah resigned over funds transferred through his ministry without his knowledge. The reform movement sought changes to how Kuwait was governed; demands to replace a Sabah-appointed prime minister did not, by themselves, amount to demands to end the dynasty.^[5]

Later succession again concentrated authority in the palace. Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah’s declining health led him to give Crown Prince Mishal effective control in 2021. After becoming emir, Mishal selected Sabah al-Khaled as crown prince, departing from the usual choice between the principal Jaber and Salem lines; Sabah al-Khaled belonged to the Hamad branch and had family ties to both principal lines. In May 2024, Mishal shut down the National Assembly four days before its newly elected members were due to convene, suspended constitutional provisions and began ruling by decree with the prime minister and Council of Ministers. He said the political arrangement would be restored within four years. The shutdown marked a major break in Kuwait’s elected politics, following repeated gridlock that had impeded development.^[5][9]

Military and security

Kuwait’s defense relationship with the United States grew from its liberation in 1991. It hosts the fourth-largest American military presence abroad, with forces at Ali al-Salem Air Base, Camp Arifjan and Camp Buehring. Kuwait holds Major Non-NATO Ally status and has more than $20 billion in active United States Foreign Military Sales cases. Its location supports American logistics and operations connected to Iraq and the northern Gulf. Kuwait’s National Guard protects critical infrastructure and supports the interior and defense ministries. The partnership reflects a lasting security need created by Kuwait’s exposure to larger neighbors and demonstrated by Iraq’s 1990 invasion.^[3][5]

Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, and Iraqi Dawa operatives carried out seven bombings in Kuwait on December 12, 1983, including an attack at Kuwait City’s main airport. Six people were killed and nearly 90 wounded; Kuwait jailed 17 people, including Hezbollah members. In April 1988, Hezbollah-affiliated hijackers seized Kuwait Airways Flight 422 and killed two Kuwaiti passengers. Kuwaiti intelligence arrested 13 Bahrainis and two Iraqis operating as Hezbollah Gulf in Kuwait City in March 1997. These episodes preceded the later expansion of the Iranian regime’s regional armed networks.^[13]

Kuwait prepared for missile threats from the Iranian regime, deploying PAC-III air and missile defense systems by July 2009. During the 2026 war involving Iran, the regime struck American facilities in Kuwait and Kuwaiti energy infrastructure and civilian networks with missiles and drones. A March 1 attack on a United States operations center at Port Shuaiba killed six Americans and wounded dozens. Kuwaiti authorities also moved against financing networks influenced by the Iranian regime. In May, Kuwaiti forces exchanged fire with Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel who crossed onto Bubiyan Island and detained four Guardsmen. These events exposed Kuwait’s position as both a host of American forces and a target in regional conflict.^[3][7]

Authorities reported disrupting two Hezbollah-linked cells in March 2026. On March 16, security forces arrested 14 Kuwaitis and two Lebanese suspected of membership in one cell and seized firearms, drones, encrypted communications equipment and other materiel. On March 18, officials reported foiling a separate plot against vital facilities involving ten Kuwaiti citizens. The arrests followed earlier attacks and investigations involving Hezbollah networks in Kuwait. They also showed the domestic security burden associated with the Iranian regime’s regional confrontation and its allied armed organizations.^[9]

Relations with Israel

Kuwait has refused to normalize relations with Israel despite depending on close United States defense cooperation. Following the 2006 Lebanon war, concern over the Iranian regime’s regional ambitions encouraged practical contacts between Israel and Gulf states, including Kuwait. Yet Kuwait remained resistant to formal normalization as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain moved toward closer relations with Israel in 2018. During its term on the UN Security Council, Kuwait blocked a United States effort to condemn attacks on Israel from Gaza by Hamas, a terrorist organization. Kuwaiti security cooperation with Washington has therefore coexisted with policies hostile to Israel.^[11][12]

Kuwait’s boycott has directly affected Israeli travelers. Its law bars business with Israelis, and state-owned Kuwait Airways denied an Israeli student travel from Frankfurt to Bangkok through Kuwait City in 2016 because of his nationality. The cancellation prompted litigation in Europe. In 2017, a German court ruled that the airline could maintain its boycott in the case involving a Kuwait City layover; Austrian authorities later considered the airline’s discriminatory policy as it prepared to serve Vienna. The exclusion was tied to the passenger’s Israeli nationality, not a routine difficulty of transit.^[12]

Kuwait has taken part in broader Arab diplomacy while keeping its own position toward Israel. Emir Mishal discussed Israel’s planned operation in Rafah and the Houthi threat to Red Sea shipping with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during a 2024 visit to Cairo. Earlier, Israel’s Yair Lapid asked President Joe Biden to convey an invitation to cooperate to Gulf leaders, including Kuwait’s. Neither diplomatic contact nor shared concern about the Iranian regime erased Kuwait’s boycott or its opposition to normalization.^[11][12]

Economy

Oil production and exports underpin Kuwait’s economy, making energy infrastructure and Gulf shipping central to public finances. The wealth generated by hydrocarbons enabled extensive state spending and gave Kuwait substantial influence abroad. Its support for Iraq during the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War reached about $30 billion. After the 2013 removal of Egypt’s Mohamed Morsi, Kuwait joined Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in providing Egypt with a combined $23 billion in grants, deposits and fuel over 18 months. These commitments illustrate how Kuwait has used financial resources to pursue regional security and diplomatic aims.^[1][3]

The 1990–1991 occupation caused severe economic loss. Iraqi troops pillaged the country, and the fires they set at 700 oil wells devastated productive infrastructure and the environment. By February 1996, Iraq had still not returned stolen goods or sufficiently compensated Kuwait. Later, repeated political gridlock slowed major development in Kuwait City compared with Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The 2026 strikes on Kuwaiti energy facilities and civilian networks again demonstrated the economy’s exposure to regional conflict. Maintaining export routes and protecting infrastructure remain essential to Kuwait’s prosperity.^[2][3][4]

Society and religion

Kuwait has a large expatriate population alongside Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities. Noncitizens accounted for 68 percent of residents in an account presented to the UN Human Rights Council. Christian communities also worship in the country: in 2004, Latin, Maronite, Coptic Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Malabar and Malankara congregations used Kuwait City’s Catholic cathedral. Religious diversity exists within a political order that distinguishes citizens sharply from noncitizens and gives state institutions a substantial role in public life.^[5][9]

About 100,000 Bidoon residents lack Kuwaiti citizenship and face barriers to health care, employment and education. Advocacy for their rights can carry criminal penalties. In May 2023, a Kuwaiti court sentenced student Salman al-Khalidi in absentia to five years of imprisonment with hard labor over posts on X. In September, the State Security Criminal Court imposed another three-year sentence over his online advocacy for Bidoon residents and prisoners of conscience. Human-rights reporting has also documented restrictions on political expression and concerns about treatment in custody. These conditions stand beside Kuwait’s history of parliamentary participation and remain central to assessments of its civil liberties.^[6][9]

Kuwait’s regional relationships reflect both cooperation and caution. As a GCC member, it joined other Gulf states in security discussions and action against terrorist financing. Emir Sabah mediated the 2017 crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, drawing on Kuwait’s preference for maintaining working relations across rival camps. Kuwait also recalled its ambassador after the Saudi–Iranian rupture and opposed Syria’s return to the Arab League when the decision was taken by majority rather than consensus. Its diplomacy has sought room for maneuver, while its history of invasion and its reliance on American forces continue to set limits on that independence.^[4][7][11]