 In 1991, the U.S. and the UK along with France responded to popular Shia and Kurdish demands for no-fly zones, and intervened and created no-fly zones in Iraq's south and north to protect the Shia and Kurdish populations from Saddam Hussein.The no-fly zones would stay active for 12 years until the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and cut off Saddam from the country's Kurdish north, effectively granting autonomy and long-lasting safety to the Kurds.In the 1990s, the U.S. intervened in Somalia as part of UNOSOM I, a United Nations humanitarian relief operation.