COALITION FORCES STRIKE AIR-DEFENSE FACILITIES
JULY 13, 2002 RELEASE NUMBER: 02-07-03
MACDILL AFB, FL – In response to Iraqi attacks on Coalition aircraft monitoring the Southern Watch No-Fly Zone today, aircraft from Operation SOUTHERN WATCH used precision-guided weapons to strike air defense facilities at approximately 3:50 a.m. EDT.
The facilities were struck because it helped direct air defense attacks today against Coalition aircraft authorized by the United Nations Security Council to enforce the no-fly zones in southern Iraq.
Coalition strikes in the no-fly zones are executed as a self-defense measure in response to hostile Iraqi acts against Coalition forces. The last Coalition response to Iraqi attacks on aircraft monitoring the Southern No-Fly Zone occurred June 28, 2002.
Coalition aircraft never target civilian populations or infrastructure and go to painstaking lengths to avoid injury to civilians or damage to civilian facilities.
