Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
NEWS RELEASE
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
May 22, 2000
RELEASE NUMBER: 00-05-05
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COALITION FORCES STRIKE IRAQI RADAR, AAA SITES
MACDILL AFB, FL - At approximately 2:30 a.m. EDT, U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 "Hornet," U.S. Air Force F-16 "Fighting Falcon" and British Royal Air Force GR-1 "Tornado" aircraft enforcing the Southern No-Fly Zone used precision guided munitions to strike an Iraqi military radar site and anti-aircraft artillery sites in Southern Iraq.
All coalition aircraft have returned safely and battle damage assessment is ongoing.
The strikes came in response to anti-aircraft artillery fire against coalition aircraft yesterday.
To date, there have been more than 470 separate incidents of Iraqi surface-to-air missile and AAA fire directed against coalition pilots since December 1998. Iraqi aircraft violated the Southern No-Fly Zone more than 150 times during the same period.
The sites were targeted to further degrade Iraq's ability to jeopardize coalition pilots and aircraft enforcing United Nations mandates. The last coalition strike in Southern Iraq was against Iraqi AAA sites, military radars and a SAM site near Al Numinayah, Ash Shatrah, and As Samawah on May 15.
Coalition aircraft do not target civilian populations or infrastructure and seek to avoid injury to civilians and damage to civilian facilities.
5/22/00 7:53:09 AM
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