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New Allied Airstrike in Southern Iraq
WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (News Agencies) - U.S. and British jets launched a new air raid Tuesday on a surface-to-air missile site in southern Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said.
The strikes at 1215 GMT (7:15 a.m. EST) targeted the site, and its associated radar system, close to An-Nasiriwah, some 170 miles southeast of Baghdad, according to Pentagon spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan.
"The target was something that has been used by the Iraqis to threaten and fire at coalition aircraft," Lapan said. All U.S. and British jets returned safely to base, he added.
Last Friday, about 20 U.S. warplanes struck three air-defense sites in southern Iraq, in response to recent anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile fire at coalition aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone, according to the Pentagon.
One person was killed, and 11 were injured in that strike, according to Baghdad.
Three days earlier, on August 7th, U.S. forces ended a three-week lull in the strikes, launching the first one since July 17th.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged recently that Iraq has "quantitatively and qualitatively" improved its air defenses since a major strike on February 16th.
U.S. President George W. Bush last week called Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a global "menace" who must reopen his nation to U.N. arms inspectors.
Iraq has recently made efforts to target U.S. reconnaissance aircraft and has reiterated it will continue to challenge U.S.-British flights over its territory.
On July 19th, a U.S. Navy E-2 Hawkeye radar surveillance plane reported that an Iraqi surface-to-air missile exploded near it inside Kuwaiti airspace, Pentagon officials said.
An Iraqi surface-to-air missile nearly hit a high-flying U-2 spy plane over southern Iraq July 24th, they said.
That was followed a week later by a sighting of an Iraqi surface-to-air missile into Saudi airspace, which was reported by the pilot of a U.S. AWACS radar surveillance plane but discounted by Pentagon officials.
The reported actions have come amid a debate within the U.S. administration over its Iraq strategy, including the policy of aggressively enforcing the no-fly zones to contain Iraq.
The United States and Britain have patrolled no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq since the 1990-91 Gulf War.
Some 354 people have been killed and 1,000 others injured since 1998 in the strikes, according to Baghdad.
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