WASHINGTON Ñ The United States is sending ground forces to Kuwait amid renewed tension with Iraq.

Officials said about 2,000 soldiers are on their way to the sheikdom. They are expected to complete deployment by the end of the week.

The forces will be equipped with M1A1 tanks, artillery and infantry fighting vehicles, officials said. They said the troops will participate in a military exercise in Kuwait and replace existing forces in the sheikdom.

The troops are arriving from the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas and other units. Officials said the deployment is meant to deter any Iraqi military action, Middle East Newsline reported.

Lt. Gen. B.B. Bell, the commander at Fort Hood, said the brigade combat team will support U.S. forces currently in Kuwait. Bell said the deployment is part of U.S. military actions meant to assure Washington's allies and coalition partners.

Officials said U.S. allies in the Gulf have been concerned that Iraq or insurgents aligned with President Saddam Hussein would exploit the war in Afghanistan to launch an attack against Kuwait. Last month, the U.S. Army held an exercise to train Kuwaiti troops on how to fight during a nonconventional weapons attack.

In an unrelated development, United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan has appointed Maj. Gen. Miguel Angel Moreno of Argentina as force commander of the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission. The appointment takes effect from Dec. 1.

Moreno has served as the commander of the Argentine battalion in the UN Protection Force [UNPROFOR] in Croatia in 1993, and has also served with UN peacekeeping missions in Iran and Iraq in 1988 and in Haiti in 1995.

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