Editing Gulf War (section)

===Operation Southern Watch===
{{Main|Operation Southern Watch}}
Since the war, the US has had a continued presence of 5,000 troops stationed in Saudi Arabia{{snd}}a figure that rose to 10,000 during the 2003 conflict in Iraq.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2984547.stm|title=US pulls out of Saudi Arabia |access-date=29 November 2009 |work=BBC News |date=29 April 2003}}</ref> Operation Southern Watch enforced the [[Iraqi no-fly zones|no-fly zones]] over southern Iraq set up after 1991; oil exports through the Persian Gulf's shipping lanes were protected by the Bahrain-based [[United States Fifth Fleet|US Fifth Fleet]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Since Saudi Arabia houses Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest sites, many Muslims were upset at the permanent military presence. The continued presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia after the war was one of the stated motivations behind the [[September 11 attacks|11 September terrorist attacks]],<ref name="bbc"/> the [[Khobar Towers bombing]], and the date chosen for the [[1998 United States embassy bombings|1998 US embassy bombings]] (7 August), which was eight years to the day that US troops were sent to Saudi Arabia.<ref>Plotz, David (2001) [http://www.slate.com/default.aspx?id=115404 What Does Osama Bin Laden Want?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810171041/http://www.slate.com/default.aspx?id=115404 |date=10 August 2011 }}, Slate</ref> [[Osama bin Laden]] interpreted the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]] as banning the "permanent presence of infidels in Arabia".<ref name="holywar-p3">{{cite book|author=Bergen, Peter L. |title=Holy War Inc. |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2001 |page=3}}</ref> In 1996, bin Laden issued a [[fatwa]], calling for US troops to leave Saudi Arabia. In a December 1999 interview with [[Rahimullah Yusufzai]], bin Laden said he felt that Americans were "too near to Mecca" and considered this a provocation to the entire Islamic world.<ref name="guardian-20010926">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,558075,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119011449/http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0%2C3604%2C558075%2C00.html |archive-date=19 January 2008 |title=Face to face with Osama |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=26 September 2001 |access-date=30 June 2010 |first=Rahimullah |last=Yusufzai }}</ref>