- JERUSALEM (AFP) - The United
States will launch its offensive against Iraq even if the UN Security Council
vetoes the move, Israel's head of military intelligence, General Aharon
Zeevi, said Sunday.
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- Zeevi told the weekly cabinet meeting that Washington
would launch its strikes "next week," Israeli broadcast media
said.
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- France, Russia and China, three permanent members of
the Security Council, are opposed to a US offensive against the regime
of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and are expected to veto US moves to
secure a new UN resolution green-lighting such an attack.
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- Zeevi said Washington was waiting to see if Turkey would
give permission for US troops to deploy on its territory along Iraq's northern
border before launching its major offensive.
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- He said the US administration was also urging "calm
on the Palestinian and Kurdish fronts," to faciliate its planned military
strike.
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- Zeevi said last week that Iraq had not deployed missiles
in the west of its territory, from where it could hit the Jewish state.
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- In the last Gulf War in 1991, Iraq fired some 40 long-range
Scud missiles at Israel, killing two people and injuring hundreds more.
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- In addition, Israel has since then developed its own
Arrow missile system which it says is capable of shooting down incoming
Scuds, and its batteries are backed up by US Patriot missiles serving the
same function.
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