This attack stoked American fears and placed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 forbidding repression of Iraq's ethnic minorities.

However the strike was instead launched by U.S. Navy surface warships and U.S. Air Force (USAF) bombers, using cruise missiles.

On 3 September 1996, a joint operation by the U.S. Navy's Carl Vinson Carrier Battle Group and the USAF, a combined strike team consisting of the guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh, the guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon, and B-52 Stratofortress bombers escorted by F-14D Tomcat fighters from Carl Vinson, with the nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser USS California serving as Air Warfare Commander,[2] launched 27 cruise missiles against Iraqi air defense targets in southern Iraq.

Once they installed the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in control of Irbil, Iraqi troops withdrew from the Kurdish region back to their initial positions.

The PUK and its leader, Jalal Talabani, retreated to the border, and U.S. forces evacuated 700 Iraqi National Congress personnel and 6,000 pro-Western Kurds out of northern Iraq.