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Israel And U.S. Conduct Missile Exercises
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Israeli army spokesman declared that Israeli and U.S. defense forces will on Monday begin a five-day exercise in which Patriot missiles will be fired against a simulated Scud missile attack.
The drills, which will reportedly involve two Patriot missiles, are due to begin later Monday and last until Saturday. The operation comes three days after U.S. and British warplanes struck Baghdad for the first time in more than two years, prompting renewed Iraqi threats against Israel, a U.S. ally in the region.
The USS Porter, a U.S. naval cruiser carrying advanced radar capable of detecting incoming missiles, will be off the Israeli coast to take part in the exercise.
Israel states that the military exercises with U.S. forces, dubbed Juniper Cobra, were planned before the raids more than a year ago and were "unrelated to the events of the weekend."
Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles against Israel during the 1991 Gulf war, killing two people. U.S. Patriot missiles stationed in Israel to counter the Scuds are believed to have missed all their targets.
Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who has accepted the post of defense minister in a new government led by Ariel Sharon, spoke Saturday with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and later told the Israeli population it did not need to take extra security precautions declaring on Sunday that Israeli citizens have no concern in Friday's U.S. and British air strikes against Iraq.
The statement was made to allay concerns addressing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's remarks in which Saddam linked the U.S.-British attack on Iraq to Israel.
Israeli officials also assured the population they have nothing to fear from Iraq following the Baghdad raid. "Israel was not involved at all with the American-British operation, so therefore we have nothing to be worried about," an army spokesman said.
Saddam has recently threatened to bomb Israel daily for six months to support the Palestinians and observers say the military exercises will add to the atmosphere of tension in the region.
Israeli experts have expressed concerns that Iraq may still possess some Scud missiles left over from the 1991 Gulf war, and could possibly fit them with biological or chemical warheads.
Saddam said the Baghdad raid was linked to a "Zionist plot" and announced the formation of 21 military divisions for a "Jerusalem Liberation Army" to fight alongside Palestinians in order to liberate Jerusalem from Israeli control.
In a front-page editorial Sunday, the Iraqi daily Al-Thawra said: "If little Bush considers his aggression a message to Iraq, then we have the answer, which is the formation of al-Quds army... ready for jihad and Liberating Palestine."
Israel has often turned to its patron, the U.S., dubbed "Israel's mum" in Arab countries, for military and financial support. Domestic and strategic imperatives have cemented the relationship in Washington.
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