LONDON, January 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Britain on Wednesday said it would send 14 Royal Air Force jet fighters to Jordan later this month, officially on military exercise, as London stepped up Western efforts to woo Turkey into adopting a “firmer” stand on the war on Iraq.

But the jet deployment to Iraq's neighbor is seen as further preparation for a possible war against Baghdad, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

In London, a British defense ministry spokesman said the maneuvers represented "a long-standing and regular commitment" with Jordan. "We have taken part in these exercises for the last ten years."

The announcement came a day after Britain's Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said the Royal Navy would deploy a task force comprising 3,000 marine commandos for military exercise in the Mediterranean "with a view to proceeding to the Gulf region if and as required."

Jordan denies

A Jordanian official confirmed Wednesday that Jordan and Britain will undertake joint military exercises this month but insisted that the maneuvers were in no way linked to neighboring Iraq.

"This has nothing to do, by near or far, with the military developments concerning Iraq," the Jordanian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"It is only part of routine maneuvers that take place annually between Jordan and the armies of friendly countries," he said.

The official did not say when the two-week maneuvers would start but stressed that they would be over by the end of January 2003 and that all the British troops involved will leave Jordan then.

Britain and the United States have stepped up mobilization of troops in recent days amid their preparation to a military strike against Iraq.

Jordan has repeatedly warned against the negative repercussions a war would have on the region and said it would not be used as a launchpad for attacks on its neighbor.

Jordanian troops took part in war games with U.S. troops in August and again in mid-October, and Amman also stressed at the time that they were not linked to the threats of war on Iraq.

London pressure Turkey as British-U.S. warplanes bomb Iraq

Meanwhile, British and U.S. warplanes swung into action over Iraq on Wednesday, while London stepped up Western efforts to woo Turkey into adopting a “firmer” stand on the war on Iraq.

London -- Washington's closest ally -- announced it dispatched Hoon to Ankara to persuade a reluctant Turkey to assist in an eventual war on neighboring Iraq.

Turkey, a NATO ally that is seeking closer ties with the European Union, is seen as a critical part of any attempt to attack Iraq.

Turkey, a key regional ally of the United States, opposes military action against its southern neighbor Iraq, fearing that regional turmoil would exacerbate its own economic woes and lead to the establishment of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq.

Ankara is concerned that such a state would fan separatist sentiment among its own sizeable Kurdish community in the southeast of the country at a time when a 15-year bloody Kurdish rebellion has significantly died down.

Meanwhile, the allied strike targeted air defense sites between the southern towns of Al Kut, Basra and An Nasiriyah after coalition aircraft came under ground fire and Iraqi military aircraft probed the southern no-fly zone, the U.S. central command said.

U.S. and Britain imposed no-fly zones over southern and northern Iraq without any UN authentication.