A rchive Date
[ 04-12-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2002/12/04/6349-ap.html
U.S. bombs Iraqi defence system
By PAULINE JELINEK -- Associated Press
Wed, December 4, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iraqi forces shot at allied aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone Wednesday and U.S. planes retaliated by bombing part of the country's air defence system, defence officials said.
By the Pentagon's count, that would make it the eighth time Iraqi forces have fired on U.S. and British planes monitoring the restricted area in the three weeks since the United Nations passed a resolution calling on Baghdad to disarm.
The UN Security Council resolution adopted Nov. 7 demands that the Iraqis give up any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, and a UN team last week began a new round of weapons inspections. The Bush administration threatens an invasion to enforce Iraqi disarmament, with or without U.N. sanction, and has pointed to continued hostilities in the no-fly zones as proof Iraq is not committed to cooperating with the international community.
In Wednesday's incident, Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery from sites approximately 15 miles northeast of Mosul in the northern no-fly zone set up to protect the Kurdish minority.
Two U.S. F-16s responded by dropping four precision-guided weapons, targeted at elements of Iraq's air defense system, said the U.S. European Command, which sends the patrol flights out of Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. No damage assessment was immediately available.
Iraq considers the patrols a violation of its sovereignty and frequently shoots at allied planes, which also fly in a southern zone set up to protect Shiites and monitored by the U.S. Central Command.
Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told a Defense Department press conference Tuesday that Iraq had fired on coalition aircraft in the southern zone 17 of the last 24 days since the UN resolution was passed and in the northern zone seven times.
The last previous strike was Sunday, when coalition forces responded to one of the firings by dropping 23 precision-guided weapons from 13 coalition aircraft on Iraqi air defense sites in the south, near Al Basra and Al Kut, Myers said.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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