Iraq Moves More Missiles into 'No Fly' Zones: US General

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Iraq Moves More Missiles into 'No Fly' Zones: US General

Baghdad has stepped up the movement of surface-to-air missiles into northern and southern "nofly" zones of Iraq, US Air Force Gen. Richard Myers said on Monday.

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Baghdad has stepped up the movement of surface-to-air missiles into northern and southern "nofly" zones of Iraq, US Air Force Gen. Richard Myers said on Monday.

Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the action was "episodic" and it did not seem to represent a significant increase in the threat to the US and British warplanes patrolling the zones.

"It was just reported to me today that some of these movements of surface-to-air missile systems into regions where we enforce the no-fly zones under the UN resolutions are greater than they have been in a couple of years," Myers said.

"This is one of the things that we have seen over time, that inthe no fly zones there will be surface-to-air missiles moved in, moved around and moved out," he said.

"It's just a little more active in the last couple of days thanwe have seen in the last couple of years. But we don't think it means anything more than what we've been seeing before," he added.

The "no fly" zones were enforced by the United States and its Gulf War allies after the 1991 Persian Gulf War to deter the Iraqiair force from attacking rebels in northern and southern Iraq.

Iraq does not recognize the zones and has vowed to fire at any plane that violates its airspace.

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