HEADQUARTERS,
UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 828-5894; FAX: (813) 840-5629; DSN 968-5894
September 9, 1999
RELEASE NUMBER: 99-09-01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COALITION AIRCRAFT STRIKE TARGETS IN SOUTHERN IRAQ
MACDILL AFB, FL - At approximately 5 a.m. Eastern Standard Time today, U.S. Air Force F-16 "Fighting Falcons," U.S. Navy F/A-18 "Hornets," and F-14 "Tomcats," and British GR-1 "Tornado" aircraft enforcing the Southern No-Fly Zone used precision guided munitions to strike Anti-Aircraft Artillery sites in southern Iraq near the cities of Tallil, Al Basrah and As Samawah.
All coalition aircraft have returned safely and battle damage assessment is ongoing.
The strikes were in response to several incidents of Iraqi Anti-Aircraft Artillery fire directed at coalition planes patrolling the Southern No-Fly Zone during the past four days. Each of these sites was selected to further degrade Iraq's ability to jeopardize coalition pilots and aircraft enforcing United Nation sanctions and restrictions.
These hostile acts represent the latest of more than 360 direct provocations by Iraqi
forces, including 131 no-fly zone violations and nearly 235 separate incidents of Iraqi surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery fire directed against coalition aircraft since Operation Desert Fox in December 1998.
Coalition aircraft do not target civilian populations or infrastructure and seek to
avoid injury to civilians and damage to civilian facilities. Iraqi citizens, especially the Kurds in the North and Shia in the South, who were subjected to systematic Iraqi air bombardment before the no-fly zones were set up, are the forgotten beneficiaries of no-fly zone enforcement.
U.S. and coalition aircraft are part of Operation Southern Watch and are responsible for enforcing United Nations Security Council resolutions and restrictions within the no-fly zones in Iraq. Our actions today are an appropriate response to the continued pattern of Iraqi provocation.
9/9/99 10:11:06 AM
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