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Iraq moves forces in its South, North

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, May 14, 2002

ABU DHABI Ñ Iraqi troops and anti-aircraft batteries are moving to the north and south of the country in what appears to be the latest deployment to confront any U.S. military offensive.

Iraq is said to have moved troops north near the Kurdish autonomous zone as well as in the south near Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In both cases, troops have been supported by tanks and artillery.

The Iraqi National Congress said over the weekend that the regime of President Saddam Hussein sent last week what it termed was a large military contingent, tanks and artillery near the cities of Irbil and Suleimaniya.

Kurdish sources listed the Iraqi force as containing 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers as well as 36 long-range artillery.

The London-based INC warned that Iraqi troops were preparing to attack Kurdish cities. Irbil is ruled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Suleimaniya by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

In southern Iraq, government troops were said to have been bolstered near the Saudi and Kuwaiti border. U.S. officials said the Iraqi troops might have infiltrated Saudi Arabia.

Last week, a Russian-made SA-7 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile launcher was found outside a Saudi air base used by U.S. forces. A U.S. Defense Department spokesman said the launcher was found outside the Prince Sultan Air Base about 100 kilometers south of Riyad. Officials said that security was bolstered around the base.

Officials said they did not know whether the SA-7 belong to Iraq or Islamic insurgents. Prince Sultan contains an advanced U.S. air command and control facility.

Iraq has also deployed Soviet-origin SA-3 anti-aircraft missile batteries and radar near Nasariya. The batteries are believed to be supporting Iraqi fighter-jets that have been increasingly violating the no-fly zone near the Kuwaiti border. In all, Iraqi is said to have deployed 25 SA-3 missile systems and 10 SA-6s, linked by a Chinese fiber-optic communications network.

Iraqi opposition sources said Baghdad is responding to a U.S. military buildup along Iraq's borders. The sources said they did not know when Washington would order an attack on the Saddam regime.

"Washington's plans for attacking Iraq are focussed on political, as well as military axes, and they are both being proceeded quite confidentially and will eventually lead to a surprise attack," Ibrahim Ja'fari, spokesman for the Iranian-backed A-Dawa, said in a radio interview.

"The U.S. weapons transfer taking place apparently in an unnoticeable manner, is easy to discern."

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