Iraq used Soviet-made FROG/FROG-7 artillery rockets during the 1990 Gulf War, with Human Rights Watch recording a February 21, 1991 firing in which one rocket landed near Senegalese coalition troops.
| Claim | Sources |
|---|---|
| Iraq used Soviet-made FROG/FROG-7 rockets during the 1990 Gulf War. | |
| On February 21, 1991, Iraq fired two FROGs, one of which landed near Senegalese coalition troops. | |
| The FROG-7 was a short-range, unguided or not-true-guided battlefield rocket; Iraq also had an improved Laith version. | Sources: Human Rights Watch Gulf War Chapter 7, Tactical Ballistic Missile System FROG-7B |
Timeline
Human Rights Watch, citing the Saudi Press Agency, records Iraq firing two FROGs; one landed near Senegalese troops and wounded eight soldiers.
Human Rights Watch's Gulf War report states that Iraq used Soviet-made FROG missiles during the war. In the report's discussion of Iraq's missile attacks, Middle East Watch described the FROG as a short-range, solid-fuel tactical missile and noted that Iraqi military communiques often reported FROG launches against military targets.
The clearest dated incident in that source is February 21, 1991. Citing the Saudi Press Agency, Human Rights Watch reported that Iraq fired two FROGs that day; one landed near Senegalese troops and wounded eight soldiers, two of them seriously.
By 1990-1991, Iraq had FROG-7 rockets in service as part of its short-range surface-to-surface missile inventory. A FAS-derived FROG-7 reference lists Iraq among FROG-7 operators and identifies Laith as an Iraqi improved FROG-7 version with a 90 km range.
On February 21, 1991, Iraq fired two FROG rockets in the Gulf War according to the Saudi Press Agency account reproduced by Human Rights Watch. The documented impact near Senegalese forces places the weapon's use in the coalition ground-war staging context rather than in the better-known Iraqi long-range Scud and al-Husayn attacks on cities.
Sources: Tactical Ballistic Missile System FROG-7B, Human Rights Watch Gulf War Chapter 7
The 9M21/FROG-7 gave Iraq a short-range tactical rocket option separate from the longer-range Scud-derived al-Husayn missiles that dominated public reporting on Iraqi missile attacks. Human Rights Watch treated the FROG as a battlefield-range system, not a true guided missile, and said it was not aware of Iraqi FROG launches against civilian targets during the Gulf War.
The available direct-use evidence supports an Iraqi long-range-strike or battlefield-strike role against military formations. The February 21 incident shows FROG rockets being fired toward coalition forces, while the broader Human Rights Watch discussion separates those launches from Iraq's strategic missile campaign against Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar.
