RELEASE NUMBER: 00-09-02
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COALITION AIRCRAFT RESPOND TO IRAQI PROVOCATIONS
MACDILL AFB, FL - At approximately 9 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, coalition aircraft enforcing the Southern No-Fly Zone used precision-guided weapons to strike a radar site in southern Iraq in response to anti-aircraft artillery fire against coalition aircraft yesterday and today.
All coalition aircraft have returned safely and battle damage assessment is ongoing.
To date, there have been more than 540 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.
The site was targeted to further degrade Iraq's ability to jeopardize coalition pilots and aircraft enforcing United Nations' mandates. The last coalition strike was against five command-and-control sites on September 2.
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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