Warplanes participating in the US-British patrol over a "no-fly" zone in southern Iraq attacked an air defence command and control communication facility late last night, the US military said.
A release on the US Central Command Web Site this morning said the strike occurred at about 11.30 p.m. (Irish Time), on a site about five miles southeast of Al Haswah in response to "Iraqi hostile threats against Coalition aircraft."
The release said the damage was still being assessed.
The last strike by aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone over southern Iraq was on January 19th, when Coalition aircraft attacked cable repeater sites between Al Kut and An Nasiriyah.
The US and Britain created no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurds in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south from Iraqi government forces. Iraq does not recognize the zones.
An increase in the number of attacks in the no-fly zones has coincided with a US military build-up in the Gulf region to prepare for a possible war with Iraq.