U.S. Warplanes Strike Iraqi Air Defenses in North: Pentagon
WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. warplanes struck Iraqi air defenses in northern Iraq Tuesday in response to anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile fire on coalition aircraft patrolling a no-fly zone, a Pentagon spokesman said.
The aircraft were fired on from sites near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, said Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan.
"In response, we dropped ordnance on Iraqi air defense systems," he was quoted by news agencies as saying. "All our aircraft returned to base safely."
He said it was the eighth strike this year in northern Iraq by U.S. and British aircraft based at Incirlik, Turkey.
A statement was also issued by the U.S. European Command based in Germany, news agencies said.
"Coalition aircraft responded to the Iraqi attacks by dropping ordnance on elements of the Iraqi integrated air defense system,'' the statement said. "All coalition aircraft departed the area safely.''
The Iraqi online news agency INA did not report on the incident. There were no reports of causalities either.
The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has been discussing taking a stronger stance against Iraq for some time now; two weeks ago, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice was slammed by Iraq for saying that Bush intended to deal with it more firmly.
According to ABCNEWS, a Pentagon spokesman said that Iraq had been on a collision course since the start of 2001.
They had taken a "considerably more aggressive stance in trying to bring down a coalition aircraft," Rear Adm. Craig Quigley was quoted by ABCNEWS as saying.
Iraq still stands defiant in the face of U.S.-sponsored sanctions, which have caused severe hardship for the people but which are unlikely to be lifted until the U.S. and Britain certify that Iraq satisfied United Nations demands over weapons inspections.
The standoff with the U.N. continues, with U.S. and British planes patrolling "no-fly zones" in the north and south, while the Kurdish community has broken away and created a semi-autonomous region of its own.
