Iraq Fires Back

20/03/2003| IslamWeb

Only hours after the United States launched "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Iraq retaliated with missile strikes aimed at American forces in the Kuwait desert.U.S. ARMY troops at Camp New Jersey in the Kuwaiti desert donned gas masks in response to an alert, the Associated Press reported, after a suspected Iraqi missile was fired in the area.


Troops of the 3rd Brigade 101st Airborne Brigade were in bunkers and did not immediately know if a chemical weapon caused the alert.

Earlier, Defense Minister Sheik Jaber Mubarak Al Sabah told The Kuwait News Agency that two missiles were fired near the border with Iraq. There were no casualties or damages, another official told KUNA.

The Iraqi retaliation followed an unexpectedly low-key start to the anticipated U.S. campaign to remove Saddam from power as strikes were focused on specific targets in Baghdad.

There was no indication whether the initial attack was successful, but about two hours after the strikes, Saddam appeared on television to offer fresh condemnation of the American president.

Separately, a U.S. military commander in Kuwait said limited raids would go on for two or three days ahead of any huge assault, which U.S. officials have said could involve a fearsome salvo of at least 3,000 satellite-guided bombs and cruise missiles.

NEXT STAGE

A senior U.S. official told a news agency that U.S. forces would accelerate psychological operations and selective bombing of air defense, command-and-control and leadership targets in the next 24 hours.

U.S. forces would take over Iraqi radio and television broadcasts over that time, superimposing U.S. messages to the Iraqi army and the Iraqi population, the official said. "Compass call" C-130 aircraft have been broadcasting into Iraq, as have specially configured RC-135 "Project Suter" aircraft capable of overriding Iraqi signals, the official said.

The precise targets that were struck in Baghdad were not identified, but a senior U.S. official told NBC News' Robert Windrem that they did not include any of Saddam's palaces.

An Iraqi government official said Thursday that an all targets hit in the U.S. onslaught were civilian.

OTHER TARGETS

Officials said U.S. forces also struck several other targets in southern and far western Iraq overnight, including the Shaibah air traffic control radar and communications site near Basra. The damage to the Shaibah site would significantly degrade Iraq's ability to track and strike helicopters assigned to the 101st Airborne Division as it moved north from Kuwait, a senior official said.

PHOTO CAPTION

A handful of explosions rocked Baghdad at dawn on March 20, 2003 as jets roared overhead, Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries opened up and air raid sirens sounded. (Reuters Graphic)