I think that the last time anything like this was carried out was in 1991:

"Operation Safe Haven" was a British initiative, made at a time when the USA was fundamentally disinterested in any further taking of action in the Gulf. The British Prime Minister's lobbying of European colleagues achieved NATO support, leveraging the necessary American air support. Then as Saddam's retribution activities escalated, US ground and logistic support was also achieved. This was a distinctly British operation though, with a proposed force of 6000 personnel, spearheaded by 3 Commando Brigade, Royal Marines, with elements from the Army, RAF and other coalition members. It was deemed dramatically successful, even though it appeared to be risky given the climate of those times. Operation Safe Haven literally "invaded" Iraq. The Coalition's main task was to enter Northern Iraq {From Turkey}, clear the designated area of the Iraqi threat and establish a safe environment for the Kurd refugees to return to their homes. The mission was both a military one and humanitarian; once security had been established, with the US providing air support and specialist elements with other Coalition members, supply and rebuilding of infrastructure was then initiated. The ground mission within Iraq took 58 days to complete. Operation Safe Haven officially ended shortly after and the enforcement of the 'No Fly Zone' continued to ensure security in the region."

In Southern Iraq around the same time, where there was no international intervention, Saddam Hussein's forces killed over 200,000 Iraqi Shia Arabs in two months (That represents a greater loss of Iraqi lives than lives lost between 2003 and 2011), hundreds of thousands were displaced, ground water was poisoned and marshes drained - of course none of the DU ammunition fired from Saddam's Hind Helicopter gunships did any any damage and none of the environmentally "unfriendly" measures implemented by Saddam's regime had any effect on the population. As we all "know" on this forum only DU munitions fired by US or UK armed forces do any damage.