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 14, 1999
RELEASE NUMBER: 99-09-02
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COALITION AIRCRAFT RESPOND TO PROVOCATION
MACDILL AFB, FL - At approximately 4:45 a.m. Eastern Standard Time today, U.S. Air Force F-16 "Fighting Falcons," U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18 "Hornets," and F-14 "Tomcats," enforcing the Southern No-Fly Zone used precision guided munitions to strike two military radar sites in southern Iraq near the town of Qalat Salih and on the Al Faw peninsula near the Arabian Gulf coast.
The strikes were in response to three incidents earlier today of Iraqi aircraft violating the Southern No-Fly zone. Each of these radar sites was targeted to further degrade Iraq's ability to jeopardize coalition pilots and aircraft enforcing United Nations sanctions and restrictions.
During the strikes, two Iraqi fighters flew south of the 33rd parallel, violating the no-fly zone for the fourth time today. Coalition aircraft engaged the aircraft; however they turned and flew out of the no-fly zone.
All coalition aircraft have returned safely and battle damage assessment is ongoing.
These hostile acts represent the latest of more than 360 direct provocations by Iraqi forces, including nearly 135 no-fly zone violations and nearly 240 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.
9/14/99 9:32:23 AM
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