U.N. inspectors resume their hunt for banned Iraqi weapons on Wednesday after a four-year gap, using new technology and a stronger mandate to search every corner of President Saddam Hussein's country. The start of inspections marks the countdown to a December 8 deadline for Baghdad to declare any nuclear, chemical or biological weapons in an initial report to the United Nations Security Council, with the threat of a U.S.-led attack looming.

Iraq denies having any such weapons. But given Washington's conviction that Iraq does indeed have them, President Bush has warned that Saddam would be entering his "final stage" if he were to stick to such a blanket denial.

The inspectors gave up their post-Gulf War quest in 1998 in the face of Iraqi obstruction -- notably over access to numerous "presidential sites."

This time, with the tougher mandate of Security Council Resolution 1441, they say the president's sprawling personal domains will no longer be off-limits.

The inspectors have refused to disclose exactly which sites would be visited on Wednesday. Journalists will be barred from accompanying inspectors.

Under Resolution 1441, which was approved on November 8, the inspectors must give their first report to the Security Council by January 27.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reminded Iraq on Tuesday that failure to cooperate could trigger a U.S.-led attack.

"I believe war is avoidable," he told France's Le Monde newspaper. "It is avoidable if President Saddam Hussein honors his commitments made at the United Nations and cooperates fully with the inspectors."

U.S. REINFORCES UNITS IN GULF

Meanwhile, the United States has been reinforcing its forces in the Gulf for a possible attack and the chiefs of the air force and army and the head of U.S. Central Command, General Tommy Franks, are in the region this week to visit troops.

In Washington, a senior Yemeni official said on Tuesday Arab governments would curtail their cooperation with the United States in the U.S. "war on terrorism" if Washington attacks Iraq.

"I can't imagine that war in Iraq will allow any country to go about the war against terrorism as business as usual," said Abdul-Karim al-Iryani, a former Yemeni prime minister and senior adviser to President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

"It will negatively affect the cooperation of almost every other Arab country, at least during the war. After the war, maybe people will come back," Iryani told reporters.

Members of the U.N. inspection team will have access to state-of-the-art equipment that reflects technological advances made over the past four years.

They say equipment such as sophisticated ground-penetrating radar that can uncover underground facilities and radiation detectors will give them better, quicker evidence of suspicious activity.

Twenty tonnes of equipment have already been flown in, including communications gear, computers, furniture and medicines. By mid-December they will have helicopters to help in monitoring large sites during inspections.

At the U.N. on Tuesday, there was disagreement between Washington and other Security Council members over Iraq's "oil-for-food" humanitarian program. The program lets Baghdad sell oil to buy food and civilian supplies to ease the impact of U.N. sanctions imposed after it invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Frustrated by Pentagon interference, Russia circulated a resolution that would extend the program by the usual six months rather than the three Washington wants.

PHOTO CAPTION

Dimitre Pricos, chief of the U.N. weapons Inspectors in Iraq, shows his group's equipment during a briefing at the U.N headquarters in Baghdad, November 26, 2002. After a four year hiatus, inspectors were set to renew their search for nuclear, biological or chemical weapons beginning November 27. (Akram Salah/Reuters)