[3] The threat posed by the Iranian Revolution in 1979 to the Arabian Gulf states forced Saudi Arabia to back Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War and cut its diplomatic ties with Iran.

Saudi Arabia's air bases served as the main staging areas for US aerial airstrikes against Iraqi targets during the Gulf War.

The warhead of the second missile totally destroyed one wing of the six-story Ministry of Interior Civil Records building, consequently killing one Saudi citizen and injuring 30 people of different nationalities.

[6] On 25 February, an Iraqi Scud missile demolished a makeshift United States barracks in Dhahran that housed more than 100 American troops overnight.

[8] The 14th Quartermaster Detachment, one of the units billeted at Dharhan and specializing in water-purification, suffered the heaviest toll among US troops deployed in the Persian Gulf, with 81% of its soldiers killed or wounded.

Only one Saudi civilian was reported killed in Riyadh on 25 January,[3] when an Iraqi missile hit a six-story government building,[10] and another 77 were lightly injured.