Video: 'Actual Footage of Desert Storm's First Apache Strikes'

(Thursday, January 17, 1991, 2:38 a.m. Arabia Standard Time/Wednesday, January 16, 1991, 6:38 p.m. EST; during the Gulf War air campaign, part of the Gulf War) — The United States and allied forces opened the long-threatened war this morning to drive President Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait, striking Baghdad and other targets in Iraq and Kuwait with waves of bombers and cruise missiles launched from naval vessels.

Video: 'Desert Storm - The Air War, Day 1 - Time-Lapse'

“The liberation of Kuwait has begun,” President George H.W. Bush said in a three-sentence statement confirming the start of the attack that was read by his spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater, shortly after the raids began.

Video: 'Operation Desert Storm - Live News Coverage' (CNN's live news coverage of the war in the gulf - Operation Desert Storm starting at 6:41 p.m. EST on Jan. 16th, 1991; 12 clips)

The massive air campaign, code-named Operation Desert Storm, began at 2:38 a.m. AST/6:38 p.m. EST when Task Force Normandy (eight US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters led by two US Air Force MH-53 Pave Low helicopters) destroyed Iraqi radar sites near the Iraqi–Saudi Arabian border which could have warned Iraq of an upcoming attack.

Video: 'News Coverage of the First Night of the First Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, January 16, 1991'

Five minutes later, at 2:43 a.m./6:43 p.m. EST, two USAF EF-111 Ravens with terrain following radar led 22 USAF F-15E Strike Eagles against assaults on airfields in Western Iraq. Minutes after that, one of the EF-111 crews – Captain James Denton and Captain Brent Brandon – destroyed an Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1, when their low altitude maneuvering led the F1 to crash to the ground.

Video: 'First 2.5 hours of Operation Desert Storm (Gulf War - Part 1): CBS News Special Report (live) . 1991'

At 3:00 a.m./7:00 p.m. EST, ten USAF F-117 Nighthawk stealth bombers, under the protection of a three-ship formation of EF-111s, bombed Baghdad, the capital. The striking force came under fire from 3,000 anti-aircraft guns on the ground.

Video: 'Next 2.5 hours of Operation Desert Storm (Gulf War - Part 2): CBS News Special Report (live) . 1991'

Within hours of the start of the coalition air campaign, a P-3 Orion called Outlaw Hunter developed by the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, which was testing a highly specialized over-the-horizon radar, detected a large number of Iraqi patrol boats and naval vessels attempting to make a run from Basra and Umm Qasr to Iranian waters. Outlaw Hunter vectored in strike elements, which attacked the Iraqi naval flotilla near Bubiyan Island, destroying eleven vessels and damaging scores more.

Video: 'Last 1.25 hours of Operation Desert Storm (Gulf War - Part 3): CBS News Special Report (live) . 1991'

Concurrently, U.S. Navy BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles struck targets in Baghdad, and other coalition aircraft struck targets throughout Iraq. Government buildings, TV stations, airfields, presidential palaces, military installations, communication lines, supply bases, oil refineries, a Baghdad airport, electric power plants and factories making Iraqi military equipment were all destroyed by massive aerial and missile attacks from coalition forces.

Video: 'Gulf War ABC' (9 videos)

Five hours after the first attacks, Iraq’s state radio broadcast a voice identified as Saddam Hussein declaring that “The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun. The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins.”

Video: '20th Century Battlefields - 1991 Gulf War HD'

The Gulf War is sometimes called the “computer war,” due to the advanced computer-guided weapons and munitions used in the air campaign, which included precision-guided munitions and cruise missiles, even though these were very much in the minority when compared with “dumb bombs” used. Cluster munitions and BLU-82 “Daisy Cutters” were also used.

Iraq responded by launching eight Iraqi modified Scud missiles into Israel the next day. These missile attacks on Israel were to continue throughout the six weeks of the war.