Russia Criticizes Attacks On Iraq
No-Fly Zones
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 4, 1999 --
(Reuters) Russia's Security
Council
representative criticized on
Tuesday
U.S. and British attacks in no-fly
zones
over Iraq but the discussion that
followed was inconclusive, council
sources said.
Russia often raises the issue
during
closed-door council consultations
after
Baghdad says such raids have
caused
civilian casualties, the sources
said.
Russia argues the no-fly zones,
established by the Western powers
after
the 1991 Gulf war, are illegal and
the air
strikes harm civilians and damage
the Iraqi economy.
Iraq said nine people were killed
and 23 wounded last
Friday in raids on the country's
northern and southern
no-fly zones. The previous day it
said eight civilians were
killed by air attacks in southern
Iraq.
The air strikes have become
commonplace since December
1998 when U.N. weapons inspectors
were withdrawn from
Iraq, citing Baghdad's failure to
cooperate, and Iraqi
anti-aircraft forces began
challenging the air patrols.
Council members said the United
States on Tuesday gave
its usual response that the zones
were set up to protect
Iraqis from the depredations of
their own government. This
is a reference to attacks by Iraqi
troops after the Gulf war
against Kurdish dissidents in the
north of the country and
Shiites in the south.
The United States also said allied
planes only attacked
installations that targeted them
with radar or launched
ground-to-air missiles.
China and Malaysia were also said
to have called for an
end to the no-fly zones while
Bahrain said the situation
only emphasized the need for the
divided Security Council
to come up with a unified policy
on Iraq.
Iraq's news agency reported
Tuesday that Iraqi Foreign
Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf
sent letters asking
the United Nations and the Arab
League to press the
United States and Britain not to
bomb civilian sites in the
no-fly zones.
He also said Iraq held responsible
all states whose planes
carried out "these criminal acts"
and those whose territories
were used by the planes, such as
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait
and Turkey. ((c) 1999 Reuters)
