Bubiyan Island

views updated

BUBIYAN ISLAND

island at the head of the persian/arabian gulf, off the north coast of kuwait and west of the shatt al-arab.

Separated from Kuwait by a narrow waterway, Bubiyan is Kuwait's largest island. Along with al-Warba Island, it lies at the mouth of Iraq's Gulf port, Umm Qasr. Both islands have been the focus of Iraq's territorial claims. In 1990, before invading Kuwait and announcing an annexation of Kuwaiti territory, Iraq's President Saddam Hussein demanded that Kuwait cede its sovereignty over both islands. Following Iraq's defeat in spring of 1991 by a United Nations coalition of forces, and the restoration of Kuwait's ruling Al Sabah family, this boundary dispute cooled but has not been settled.

see also al sabah family; hussein, saddam; persian (arabian) gulf.

Bibliography


Adams, Michael, ed. The Middle East: A Handbook. New York: Facts on File, 1988.

Emile A. Nakhleh