COALITION FORCES STRIKE IRAQI AIR DEFENSE COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY
September 24, 2002 Release 02-09-08
MACDILL AFB, FL -- In response to Iraqi hostile acts against Coalition aircraft monitoring the Southern No-Fly Zone, Operation SOUTHERN WATCH Coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons today to strike Iraqi air defense facilities near Al Amarah, approximately 165 miles southeast of Baghdad, and Tallil, approximately 170 miles southeast of Baghdad, at approximately 2:15 p.m. EDT.
Target battle damage assessment is ongoing.
Coalition strikes in the No-Fly Zones are executed as a self-defense measure in response to Iraqi hostile threats and acts against Coalition forces and their aircraft. The last Coalition strike in the Southern No-Fly Zone was against a military air defense communications facility near Tallil, on Sep. 15, 2002.
This calendar year there have been more than 140 separate incidents of Iraqi surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery fire directed against Coalition aircraft. Coalition aircraft never target civilian populations or infrastructure and go to painstaking lengths to avoid injury to civilians and damage to civilian facilities.
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