Plans for a northern assault against the Iraqi leadership are taking shape as tensions on the frontier that divides the free Kurdish area from the dictator's domain spill into sporadic shooting and airstrikes are called in against the forces of Saddam, writes Lynne O'Donnell.
US Special Forces are active around Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, supervising the rapid renovation of airstrips in the city and at Harir, in a nearby valley, which it is believed will be used to land Allied forces in readiness for the move south.
Four American landings were reported near the northern city of Sulemaniyeh yesterday, at the Bakrajo airstrip 16 kilometres away, disgorging scores of US military personnel.
American soldiers were also spotted shopping at a supermarket in Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish northern region.
Mr Guiseppe Renda, head of the Irbil delegation of the Red Cross, said 3,000 people had fled their homes close to what they expect will be the frontlines.
Refugees who had fled Mosul and Kirkuk, which remain under Saddam's control, had been taken to the village of Diana, near the border with Iran, he said.
Massive flashes regularly lit up the night sky over the foothills of the Cudi Mountains yesterday as British and American bombers dropped their deadly payload on targets south of the frontline marked by the Kalak River.
In the major oil-producing cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, bombing raids that are part of the Allied patrols that have protected the north from the will of Saddam for 12 years have been stepped up.
Co-operation between the Americans and the guerrilla armies of the two main Kurdish groups that between them control the vast regions of Iraq's north has become evident as the snail-like pace of the northern campaign picks up momentum.
Soldiers of the Kurdistan Democratic Party based in Irbil, and who control the eastern sector of the north, said airstrikes had been ordered on a well-fortified Iraqi position south-west of the city.
Anti-aircraft guns lit up the sky as troops manning the Iraqi defensive posts fired impotently into the air, where the bombers passed, too high to be hit.
Some defections of Iraqi troops over the river have been reported.
A Kurdish Peshmerga guerrilla said some soldiers attempting to defect had been shot in the back as they moved towards no-man's-land.
On the Kalak frontier, where riverside villages have been deserted by fearful residents, Iraqi soldiers kept up an intermittent barrage of cannon fire.
Guerrillas on the frontier said Iraqi defensive positions had been reinforced with troops of the Republican Guard who were being sent from the south, an indication that Saddam is preparing for an assault. As tension mounts while waiting for the Americans to begin their campaign, the Iraqis fire on anyone who dares to venture onto open ground.