Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
May 15, 2000
RELEASE NUMBER: 00-05-03
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COALITION AIRCRAFT STRIKE IRAQI MILITARY SITES IN THE SOUTH
MACDILL AFB, FL - - In response to anti-aircraft artillery fire against Coalition aircraft yesterday, U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18D "Hornets," Air Force F-16 "Fighting Falcons," U.S Navy F-14 "Tomcats" and U.S. Navy F/A-18 "Hornets" enforcing the Southern No-Fly Zone used precision-guided weapons to strike Iraqi military radar sites, anti-aircraft artillery sites and a surface-to-air missile site in southern Iraq at approximately 3:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
During the past 10 days, there have been several instances of anti-aircraft artillery fire against
Coalition aircraft; to date, there have been more than 470 separate incidents of Iraqi surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery fire directed against coalition pilots since December 1998. Iraqi aircraft violated the Southern No-Fly Zone more than 150 times during the same period. Additionally, movement of SAMs within the southern No-Fly Zone is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and international demarches.
The sites were targeted to further degrade Iraq's ability to jeopardize coalition pilots and aircraft enforcing United Nations' mandates. All coalition aircraft have returned safely and battle damage assessment is ongoing. The last coalition strike in Southern Iraq was against Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery sites near As Samawah and Qalat Sukkar on May 13 in response to Iraqi AAA fire against Coailition aircraft.
Coalition aircraft do not target civilian populations or infrastructure and seek to avoid injury to civilians and damage to civilian facilities.
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