Coalition attacks in north, south

Coalition attacks in north, south

Released: 22 Jun 1999

WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Coalition aircraft patrolling Iraq's northern and southern no-fly zones came under fire June 21 and 22, both times responding with precision-guided munitions to strike military targets.

Coalition and Iraqi forces have clashed more than 190 times since the end of Operation Desert Fox in December.

Between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Iraqi time June 22, Operation Northern Watch aircraft were targeted by Iraqi radar and fired upon by Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery. Responding in self-defense, Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcons and F-15E Strike Eagles dropped GBU-10 and GBU-12 precision-guided munitions on an Iraqi military command-and-control site southwest of Mosul.

A day earlier, at about 4:45 p.m. Iraqi time, Navy F/A-18 Hornet aircraft enforcing the southern no-fly zone used precision-guided munitions to strike two Iraqi surface-to-air missile sites about 150 miles south of Baghdad, in the vicinity of As Samawah.

The strike was in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery fire directed at coalition aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone earlier that day.