Extracts. Israel and US to Begin Joint Air Defence Exercises Israel and the United States will begin joint air defence exercises later today(Feb.19), just two-days after the United States and Britain launched air strikes on targets near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Israel announced the exercises today saying they will include the testing of the anti-missile Patriot missile defence system. The Israeli army says the exercise has been scheduled for more than a year although Israeli caretaker Prime Minister, Ehud Barak says his country is watching Iraq closely after the weekend's raids. Israel says while it has nothing to do with the air attacks, President Hussein is involving Israel because of its close ties with the US. But Israel's Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh says no special measures are warranted at this stage. **** US & British Aircraft Attacked Targets Near Baghdadon Friday US & British Aircraft Attacked Targets Near Baghdadon ------------------------------------------------------------------------US and British aircraft attacked targets near Baghdad on Friday and President George W. Bush said Washington would take "appropriate action" if Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein produced weapons of mass destruction. US Defense officials said 24 American and British planes struck five Iraqi military targets five to 20 miles (eight to 32 km) from Baghdad using various long-range precision-guided weapons. Iraqi television broadcast an official statement saying planes had struck targets on the outskirts of Baghdad. The statement was issued after a meeting of Iraqi leaders chaired by Saddam. "We will fight them in the air, on land and sea and their aggression will achieve nothing but failure," it said. The statement also blamed Kuwait and Saudi Arabia which provide bases for coalition forces in the region. Iraqi television said the attack was the first Western strike against the capital since December 1998. At Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital, physician Dr Omar al-Abdali said nine wounded people, some critically hurt, had been admitted. The US Defense Department said the planes had hit Iraqi air defenses outside the Western-imposed no-fly zone south of Baghdad. A spokesman said no further attacks were expected soon. President Bush, speaking after he had authorized the strikes, told a news conference during a one-day visit to Mexico that Washington was keeping a close eye on Iraq. "We're going to watch very carefully as to whether or not he develops weapons of mass destruction, and if we catch him doing so, we'll take the appropriate action," said Bush, whose father George Bush was president during the 1990-91 Gulf War that drove invading Iraqis out of Kuwait. George W. Bush, who took office on January 20, said the United States would continue to enforce the no-fly zones imposed after the Gulf War to protect a Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq and anti-Baghdad Shi'te Muslims in the south. The northern edge of the southern zone -- the 33rd parallel -- lies just south of Baghdad. LOUD EXPLOSIONS HEARD Sirens wailed over Baghdad, loud explosions were heard and anti-aircraft systems opened fire. The US Defense Department said the planes struck Iraqi radar systems at about 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. EST (1730-1800 GMT). Bush said the attack was a routine mission but had required the President's personal authorization. The British Defense Ministry said British and American planes attacked six sites, comprising part of Iraq's integrated Air Defense System. "This was a proportionate response to a recent increase in the threat to aircraft carrying out legitimate humanitarian patrols in the southern no-fly zone," Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said in a statement. A leading hawk in the Russian military, Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, condemned the air strikes and accused Washington of acting like the world's policeman. Ivashov, head of the military's foreign relations department, was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying this was a dangerous tendency. Iraqi television showed Health Minister Umeed Madhat Mubarak visiting Yarmouk hospital. Some of the victims shown on television said they were wounded while walking in the al-Mansur area in central Baghdad. While there have been a number of strikes on targets in the northern and southern no-fly zones, the last time Baghdad came under attack was in December 1998. The United States and Britain launched a four-day bombing campaign in 1998 to punish Iraq for expelling UN arms inspectors charged with eliminating the country's weapons of mass destruction. **** China Condemns US, British Air Strikes on Iraq China Saturday condemned the US and British warplanes' strikes against Iraq and expressed deep regret over casualties of Iraqi civilians. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao made the remark in response to a request for comments on the US and British warplanes' air raids on the evening of February 16 on targets south of Baghdad, causing casualties of civilians. Zhu said, "We condemn the air attacks launched by the United States and Britain against Iraq, and express deep regret over the deaths and injuries of innocent civilians resulting from the action." He said China has always maintained that Iraq's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence should be respected. The US and British warplanes' bombing in Iraq will harm the international community's efforts to solve the issue of Iraq, he said. The spokesman called on the United States and Britain to stop their military actions in Iraq immediately so as to create a favorable atmosphere for the upcoming dialog between Iraq and the UN Secretary-General. **** Iraq Ponders Military Measures to Avenge US Strike Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Saturday discussed with his officials about military measures to avenge the air raid by the US and Britain on Friday evening, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) said. Saddam chaired a joint meeting of the Revolutionary Command Council and the regional command of the Arab Baath Socialist Party, and the meeting discussed military measures to be taken to retaliate against the US and its allies in case of a repetition of the aggression, the INA said. The meeting also discussed measures to make reprisals against those countries providing facilities to the US and British aggression against Iraq, the INA said. In a separate report, the INA said that Saddam had decided to form a volunteer army of 21 divisions, but giving no details. This was regarded as another move by the Iraqi president to support the intifada (uprising) of Palestine against Israel, a staunch ally of the US in the Mideast region. US and British warplanes, taking off from bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, bombed south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad Friday evening, killing two and wounding 20 other civilians as claimed by Baghdad. This was the first raid on the Baghdad area since the US and Britain launched an air campaign against Iraq in December 1998. US and British planes, by using bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey, have been enforcing two no-fly zones in southern and northern Iraq for claimed aim of protecting the Kurds in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south. The two air exclusion zones were imposed by the US-led Western alliance after the 1991 Gulf War, triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. **** Taiwan's KMT Aims to Ease Cross-Straits Ties A spokesman for Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) Party said here Sunday that the party will work out a "Statute on Cross-Straits Economy and Trade", and amend the current "Statute on Cross-Straits Relations", in a bid to streamline cross-straits economic cooperation and exchanges. Lin Fong-Cheng, secretary-general of the KMT's Central Committee, claimed at a seminar that during the conference of the "Legislative Yuan" on February 20 the KMT will help push forward financial reform and economic development, and smooth cross- straits relationships. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
