EmergencyNet News Service -10:31CDT
08/30/96 - Vol. 2, No. 243
Iraqi Incursion into Kurdish Area Sounds Alarms
WASHINGTON (ENN) - As if we didn't have enough troubled spots to monitor, the United States State Department
said on Thursday that the situation in Iraq is being closely monitored to see if any hostile intentions were in the offering
between Iraq and Iran. Iranian troops recently have been making border crossings into Iraq in support of the Kurdish
regions located in northern Iraq.
There are reports of an Iraqi troop build-up near the northern town of Arbil. State Department deputy spokesman Glyn
Davies said, "Obviously, we continue to watch that part of the world very closely and we would take seriously any moves
that were seen as aggressive. "The State Department has been saying in recent weeks that the rogue state of Iran has no
business in Iraq and its help to the Kurds is not wanted, warranted or needed.
Earlier on Thursday, Iraq accused Iran of military aggression and said that it reserved the right to retaliate for Tehran's
deployment of troops into the Kurdish-populated areas of northern Iraq. Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed
al-Sahaf said, "Iran, in its pursuit of such stupid aggressive policy, would be digging its grave with its own hands, creating a
dangerous precendent that will backfire on it." The Kurdistan Democratic Party said that Iran sent its troops into northern
Iraq to support the guerrillas of a rival group known as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Iraq and Iran fought an eight year war during the 1980s in which one side, the Iraqis, used World War I trench tactics and
the Iranians relied upon Zulu human wave attacks reminiscent of the Boer War at the turn of the century.
ENN 8/31/96 08:22
Iraq Update; U.S. Forces Plan For Contingencies
WASHINGTON (ENN) - Iraq ordered its troops to crush Iranian- backed separatists in the northern part of its country
on Saturday. Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi foreign minister and now the deputy prime minister, said the Iraqi forces were
involved in a "limited military operation" and it was in response to an appeal by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
This Iraqi intervention threatens to ignite a new confrontation between Iraq and the allied forces that have policed the
region since the end of the 1991 Gulf War. It is also heightening tensions with Iran, which fought an eight-year war with
Iraq from 1980 to 1988.
The Iranian-backed Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said that Iraqi forces launched a massive tank-led offensive on
Saturday on the city of Ibril. PUK fighters were said to be resisting, but the Iraqi troops had reached the outskirts of the
city. The PUK, though backed by Iran, was appealing for help from the Western coalition forces. The PUK reported
"scores of civilian casualties." There are said to be 3.5 million Iraqi Kurds who are seeking independence from Iraq.
The attack was started by the Iraqis at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning (2100 EDT Friday). Heavy artillery was said to
have pounded Ibril and other areas. More than 450 Iraqi tanks were said to be amassed in eastern Kurdistan. Iraqi
spokesperson Aziz said, "We decided to launch a limited military operation in defense of our sovereignty, our people and
their properties."
The White House has reportedly ordered to Pentagon to take steps that the U.S. military is prepared for any contingency.
"We have made clear to Iraq the seriousness with which we view this situation," said White House spokesman Mike
McCurry.
The Pentagon late on Friday directed U.S. warplanes in the Persian Gulf area to increase their flight activity over the
northern Iraq "No Fly Zone." This was considered one of a number of "precautionary moves" in response to Iraqi troop
movements toward the Kurdish-populated area in the country.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Colonel P.J. Crowley said, "There are movements of forces that concern us." Crowley said that
Iraq had moved some of its forces northward toward the region where Kurdish separatists have been fighting each other.
There was no immediate estimate of the size of the Iraqi force. Crowley said that a number of precautionary steps were
being considered by the United States military, but he would not elaborate on those steps. An unnamed Pentagon official
said that some of the steps were to move U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft, that are part of an expeditionary group, into
Jordan or another nearby country.
Another move was said to be placing the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise (CVN-65, Enterprise Class), which is currently
stationed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70, Nimitz Class), which is located in the
Persian Gulf, on a "short tether" -- which means that the ships have been informed to be prepared to move on short notice.
The aircraft on the Carl Vinson reportedly did increase its number of CAP (Combat Air Patrols) flights in the area on
Friday.
ENN is monitoring the situation closely and will provide additional reports as the inforamtion becomes available.
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