It's been 25 years since the start of Operation Desert Storm

The Persian Gulf War was one of the last conflicts between conventional military powers, pitting a US-led coalition against what was then the fourth-largest military on earth.

The US began its aerial bombardment on January 17th, 1991, and by the end of February, Saddam Hussein's army had been expelled from Kuwait, which the Iraqi dictator's forces had occupied for seven months.

Here's a look back at the start of the military campaign that ended the Persian Gulf crisis - and one of the biggest military triumphs in US history.