COALITION FORCES STRIKE AAA SITE
MACDILL AFB, FL - - At approximately 3:40 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time today, U.S. Navy F/A-18 "Hornet" aircraft enforcing the Southern No-Fly Zone used precision-guided munitions to strike an Iraqi anti-aircraft site 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 today and the past week. To date, there have been more than 490 separate incidents of Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile fire directed at coalition pilots since December 1998. Additionally, Iraqi aircraft have violated the Southern No-Fly Zone more than 150 times during the same period.
The site was targeted to further degrade Iraq's ability to jeopardize coalition pilots and aircraft enforcing United Nations' mandates. The last coalition strikes were against Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery sites near An Nasiriyah, Kut Al Hayy and Tallil on July 12.
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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