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Iraq fires at US and British jets in `no-fly' zone

UN resolution * Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix is set to arrive in Iraq Monday. * Iraq is prohibited from taking or threatening any hostile action against countries "taking action to uphold any council resolution." * The US considers Iraq's firing at coalition planes a material breach of the resolution. Source: AP

In an action US officials consider a violation of a UN Security Council resolution, Iraq fired surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns at American and British warplanes patrolling a "no-fly" zone.

Coalition warplanes bombed an Iraqi air defense site in retaliation for Friday's firing, a Pentagon statement said.

It was the first coalition strike on Iraq since President Saddam Hussein's government accepted the Security Council resolution Wednesday that demanded he disarm and allow inspectors to search for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Under the resolution, a material breach must be reported to the Security Council for new debate and could be used as possible justification for US-led military action to remove Saddam's government.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government considers the firing a material breach, but could not say whether or when US officials would raise the issue with the UN.

State Department spokesman Frederick Jones said the US had the option of reporting the Iraqi firing to the Security Council but had not decided whether to do so.

In New York, meanwhile, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix prepared to set off for Baghdad with a warning to Saddam that the Security Council won't tolerate "cat and mouse" games.

Blix and other inspectors are scheduled to arrive in Iraq on Monday after a four-year absence, and he said actual inspections were expected to begin Nov. 27.

Saddam's government told Iraqis on Friday they must welcome the inspection team.

The George W. Bush administration says it will go to war if Saddam does not comply with the new UN resolution to cooperate in declaring and dismantling Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Saddam accepted the UN resolution on Wednesday but insists Iraq has no chemical, biological and nuclear arms.

"Iraq's acceptance of the resolution is an attempt to save our people from any harm," the state-run Al-Iraq newspaper said Friday. "This is the most important thing."

President George W. Bush and other US officials have said they believe Iraq's firing on coalition planes patrolling the northern and southern no-fly zones would violate the latest UN resolution.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials, however, have been vague about whether Iraqi hostile actions in the zones would be considered a trigger for a wider US-led attack.

Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel David Lapan said Iraq fired surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery at coalition planes. The shots came from Iraqi positions near the southern city of An Najaf, said Commander Dan Gage, a spokesman for the US Central Command.

Coalition planes used precision-guided weapons to attack an air defense communications facility near An Najaf about 135km southeast of Baghdad, a Pentagon statement said.

The latest UN Security Council resolution, passed 15-0 on Nov. 8, prohibits Iraq from taking or threatening any hostile action against countries "taking action to uphold any council resolution." The US and Britain say they established the no-fly zones to enforce Security Council resolutions calling on Saddam to end attacks on Kurds in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south.

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