[centraal] Dump hier je nieuws over de aanval

Uitgegeven: 20 maart 2003 19:07

BAGDAD - In Bagdad was donderdagavond vlak voor 19:00 uur Nederlandse tijd weer luchtalarm te horen. Dat was voor het eerst sinds de Amerikaanse bombardementen in de nacht van woensdag op donderdag.

http://nu.nl/news.jsp?n=123419&c=23

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Britten stuiten op zwaar verzet bij havenstad

Uitgegeven: 21 maart 2003 10:09

LONDEN - Britse militairen stuiten op zwaar verzet bij de havenstad Umm Qasr aan de grens tussen Koeweit en Irak. Dat heeft minister Geoff Hoon van Defensie vrijdag tegen het commerciële station Channel 4 gezegd. "De Iraki's geven niet zo eenvoudig de strijd op als sommige commentatoren hebben voorspeld. Onze militairen zijn in gevecht", aldus Hoon.

De bewindsman voegde er echter voor de BBC aan toe dat de strijd tot nu toe bijzonder goed verloopt. "Dit is een campagne die onvermijdelijk enigszins anders gaat dan de plannen die in het begin zijn gemaakt. Maar desondanks gaat alles buitengewoon goed. De geallieerde strijdkrachten rukken langs zeker twee fronten op", zei Hoon.

In de buurt van Umm Qasr hebben ongeveer dertig Iraakse militairen zich aan Amerikaanse mariniers overgegeven.

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Bron: www.nu.nl

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Op vrijdag 21 maart 2003 10:55 schreef sp3c het volgende:
[centraal] De oorlog is begonnen deeltje 5

dit topic is er al (een paar delen) laten we het wel overzichtelijk houden hé

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Dus in dit topic graag enkel berichtgeving, zodat er een soort van overzicht ontstaat wat er aan de hand is.

_{-edit- een paar reacties verwijderd.}

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Een snelle kolonne van het Amerikaanse leger is vanochtend al zeker 150 km opgerukt in Zuid-Irak. De troepen zijn op weg naar Bagdad, meldt een journalist van Reuters die met hen meereist.

De militairen hebben volgens de journalist geen tegenstand ontmoet en er zouden geen krijgsgevangenen zijn gemaakt. De troepen worden gedekt door Apache helikopters die voor hen uit vliegen.
Het konvooi bestaat onder meer uit 2000 tanks, commandowagens en tankwagens.

De geallieerden hebben vannacht de stad Mosul, in het noorden van Irak, zwaar bestookt. De oliestad kreeg zeker drie aanvalsgolven te verduren die vooral op de buitenwijken leken gericht. Over de gevolgen van de aanval is nog weinig bekend.

De oorlog is nu ruim 24 uur oud. Maar de grote aanval lijkt nog steeds niet begonnen. Het Amerikaanse opperbevel heeft voor de oorlog steeds gezegd dat er een gigantische luchtaanval zou komen om het Iraakse leger totaal te demoraliseren. Vanaf gisteravond zes uur zijn verkenningséénheden en stoottroepen Irak binnengetrokken om voorbereidingen te treffen voor de echte aanval, zeggen de bronnen.

Amerikaanse mariniers zouden bij de Iraaks-Koeweitse grens in gevecht zijn verwikkeld met Iraakse troepen. Ook zouden Iraakse manschappen zich hebben overgegeven aan Amerikaanse mariniers kort nadat die de Iraakse grens waren overgestoken, zo melden de Amerikaanse zenders CBS en ABC. Om hoeveel Iraakse soldaten het gaat is nog niet duidelijk.

Havenstad Basra

De Amerikaanse en Britse grondtroepen lijken de korte kustlijn van Irak al wel veroverd te hebben. Britse infanteristen hebben het Iraakse schiereiland Al-Faw ingenomen. Volgens het Arabische nieuwsstation al-Jazeera is de inname bedoeld om strategische posities in te nemen voor een opmars naar de noordelijker gelegen stad Basra.

Het was de eerste keer dat de Britse strijdkrachten in actie kwamen. Circa zestig Iraakse soldaten hebben zich aan de Britse mariniers overgegeven. Dat meldt de BBC.

Verscheidene persbureaus melden dat er in de buurt van de strategische havenstad Basra enorme explosies zijn geweest waarbij reusachtige vuurballen te zien waren. Basra is het centrum van de Iraakse olie-industrie. Het is nog onbekend hoever de Amerikaanse en Britse grondtroepen opgerukt zijn naar de stad.

Brandende oliebronnen
Sommige journalisten gaan ervan uit dat de Irakezen olie-installaties in brand hebben gestoken en springstof-ladingen tot ontploffing hebben gebracht. De Amerikaanse minister van Defensie Rumsfeld heeft verklaard over aanwijzingen beschikken dat de Irakezen drie of vier oliebronnen in het zuiden van Irak in brand hebben gestoken. Maar deze berichten zijn niet bevestigd.
Amerikaanse troepen zouden ook de kustplaats Umm Qasr hebben veroverd, maar de Iraakse staatstelevisie ontkent dat. De stad is de enige belangrijke zeehaven van Irak en ligt op een strategische weg richting Basra.

Bagdad onder vuur
De hoofdstad Bagdad kwam gisteravond opnieuw onder vuur te liggen. Om18.15 uur gingen de sirenes van het luchtalarm af en schudde de stad op zijn grondvesten door de zware explosies. Zowel de Amerikanen als de Britten vuurden kruisraketten op de Iraakse hoofdstad af. Doelwit was onder meer een wijk waar overheidsgebouwen en twee van Saddam Husseins paleizen staan.

Boven plaatsen waar raketten insloegen, stegen dikke rookwolken op. Een van de getroffen gebouwen zou het ministerie van Planning zijn. De Iraakse radio bericht dat het woonhuis van Saddam door Amerikaanse raketten is getroffen. Er zouden geen slachtoffers zijn gevallen. Experts meenden te horen dat er zowel Tomahawk-raketten als zware penetrerende bommen zijn ingezet. Inmiddels is het weer rustig in de hoofdstad.

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Op vrijdag 21 maart 2003 11:08 schreef Kozzmic het volgende:

We houden dit topic open puur voor het melden van berichtgeving van aanvallen en andere oorlogshandelingen. Dus zonder discussie erover. In het topic dat jij noemt mogen de berichten wel gemeld worden en mag er ook over 'gepraat' worden. Echter door de snelheid van het reageren zakken de berichten daar te snel weg.

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haaretz meld nu dat ook in het westen van Irak troepen zijn..

http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/274616.html

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U.S. said operating in west Iraq to thwart Scud attacks on Israel
A large U.S. force is operating in western Iraq in a bid to prevent any Iraqi Scud missile attacks against Israel, Channel One television reported Thursday evening.

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Op vrijdag 21 maart 2003 11:23 schreef BugsySiegel het volgende:
Odai, de zoon van Saddam, is omgekomen bij een Amerikaanse aanval

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Op vrijdag 21 maart 2003 11:23 schreef BugsySiegel het volgende:
Odai, de zoon van Saddam, is omgekomen bij een Amerikaanse aanval

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Op vrijdag 21 maart 2003 11:25 schreef JAM het volgende:

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Bron ?

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Marines Raise U.S. Flag Over Iraqi Port
Fri March 21, 2003 05:24 AM ET
UMM QASR, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines lowered the Iraqi flag over the new port area of Umm Qasr in southern Iraq on Friday and hoisted the Stars and Stripes in its place, Reuters correspondent Adrian Croft reported.
Croft, who is traveling with the Marines, said the U.S. wanted to use the modern port on the southern fringes of Iraq as an entry point for humanitarian aid.

The old port of Umm Qasr, some one mile distant, has not yet been taken, Croft said.

British marines are co-ordinating the assault on Umm Qasr and British military spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon told CNN that the city was not yet entirely under the control of the invading force.

The U.S. Marines poured over the Kuwaiti border just after dawn, but within minutes of stepping foot in Iraq they were pinned down in a two-hour firefight with Iraqi soldiers armed with machineguns and anti-tank rockets.

The battle only ended after British artillery rained a hail of shells onto the Iraqi positions.

The Marines then made swift progress to the new port. As they entered Umm Qasar the soldiers passed two blazing cars and the bodies of two men in civilian clothes lying on the road. A third man drenched in blood sat nearby on the ground surrounded by women who flagged down a Marine medical team to come to his aid.

By the entrance of the new Aluboor Marine Terminal, a huge portrait of Saddam Hussein wearing a Western suit and set into a wall was riddled with bullet holes. The face of the Iraqi leader was unscathed.

U.S. Marines entered the port complex to check it was free of Iraqi soldiers. A short while later six port workers with their hands in the air were escorted from the site.

U.S. commanders said that once they have secured the facility they will use the port workers to help bring in humanitarian shipments.

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Forces in Baghdad "hopefully" in 3-4 days

AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - U.S. and British forces advancing inside Iraq could be in Baghdad in three or four days, the main spokesman for the British forces headquarters in Qatar says.

Asked when invading troops would be in the Iraqi capital, Group Captain Al Lockwood told reporters: "If I were a betting man, which I'm not -- hopefully in the next three or four days."

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Op vrijdag 21 maart 2003 11:28 schreef BugsySiegel het volgende:

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Business Radio, en die hadden het van Washington Post geloof ik. Over het lot van Saddam was nog weinig bekend.

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Les forces terrestres progressent à un rythme soutenu

Un important convoi, comprenant plus de 2 000 chars, blindés et camions progresse dans le désert du sud irakien sans rencontrer de véritable résistance. Il aurait déjà parcouru 150 km depuis le passage de la frontière. Les bombardements se sont poursuivis, en particulier sur Bagdad, mais aussi sur Mossoul et Bassora. "Les choses se passent très bien" commente le secrétaire américain à la défense, Donald Rumsfeld.

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Op vrijdag 21 maart 2003 11:35 schreef JAM het volgende:

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Kort berichtje van www.lemonde.fr

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Op vrijdag 21 maart 2003 11:37 schreef vosss het volgende:

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In het NL of EN of DUI graag, frans ken ik niet

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Zoiets maak ik eruit op.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1084542,00.html

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B52S LEAVE UK BASE

A wave of B-52 bombers took off today from RAF Fairford.

The giant bombers, which have been expected to play a key role in the bombing of Iraq, took off one after the other from the Gloucestershire base shortly after 10am.
In recent days the eight-engine bombers, which carry an awesome arsenal of weapons including cruise missiles, have been seen being loaded up.
It is the first time that so many of the jets have left the base in one sortie.
The planes, which have an 8,000-mile range, could hit Iraqi targets within around six hours of leaving Britain.

Last Updated: 10:33 UK, Friday March 21, 2003

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Op vrijdag 21 maart 2003 11:32 schreef Libris het volgende:

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Washington Post had het er ook over dat Saddam gewond zou zijn. Nog ff afwachten of het door anderen bevestigd wordt

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has survived U.S. air raids that targeted his family's houses, Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf has told a news conference.
"They targeted the houses of Saddam Hussein and his family, but they are safe. They are safe," said Sahaf, who branded U.S. President George W. Bush as the "leader of the international criminal gang of bastards".

In the first official Iraqi response to the invasion launched earlier on Friday by U.S. and British forces, Sahaf said: "We will not let them leave the swamp they have entered. They will meet their fate."

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Allied troops control Iraq's only coast
U.S. thinks Iraqi leadership shaken
Friday, March 21, 2003 Posted: 5:06 AM EST (1006 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- British troops used a combined air and ground assault Friday to take control of Iraq's Persian Gulf coast, the Faw Peninsula, according to the commander of the Royal Marines landing force.

Col. Steve Cox, the commander of the 40 Commandos, said the pre-dawn assault put coalition forces in control of Iraq's main oil pipeline terminals.

"All our targets were successfully captured," Cox said. "The main thing now is sorting the mess out in the daylight, make sure all the sites are protected and assess the local situation."

And an American flag flew over the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr on Friday after U.S. Marines took control, according to Reuters correspondent Adrian Croft.

So far, the coalition's battle for Iraq has not gone according to the original plan, thanks to the sudden strike on Saddam Hussein's bunker early Thursday morning.

U.S. intelligence and President Bush's administration officials are debating whether Saddam survived the first strike of the war and to what degree his senior leadership has been shaken.

The Washington Post reported in its Friday edition that U.S. intelligence officials believe Saddam and at least one of his two sons, Uday and Qusay, were in the compound at the time of the strike. The Post reported that analysts are unsure whether Saddam was killed or injured.

Regardless of the Iraqi leader's fate, the apparent disarray within the Iraqi leadership was enough to delay the original war plan, which called for an immediate and extensive bombing campaign to create "shock and awe" among Iraqi soldiers. (Full story)

Instead of the massive air strikes, a convoy of U.S. tanks rolled unopposed through the desert toward the Iraqi capital in the second day of the campaign to dislodge Saddam and hi regime.

Dozens of Iraqi troops crossed the southern border into Kuwait to surrender, waving white flags, to British marines.

With U.S. and British forces on the move, and after a day in which Baghdad was bombarded with more than 60 cruise missiles, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, "Things are going very well."

"The pressure is continuing on the Iraqi regime, and [the regime] will not be there in the period ahead," he said.

Coalition forces took their first casualties of the campaign when a U.S. Marine CH-46 helicopter crashed in northern Kuwait early Friday morning, killing all 12 people on board -- 8 British military personnel and four American crew members, Pentagon officials said.

There were no indications that hostile fire brought down the helicopter, according to the Pentagon. The accident took place about nine miles south of the Iraqi border.(Full story)

Elsewhere, coalition forces bombed the Iraqi-controlled northern city of Mosul shortly before 4:30 a.m. Friday (8:30 p.m. Thursday EST). Antiaircraft fire was launched, but it was not clear whether any planes were hit.

Friday morning, the 3rd Squadron of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment, lead element of the 3rd Infantry Division, was heading toward Baghdad unopposed after brushing aside initial resistance as it rolled across the border from Kuwait the night before, according to a CNN correspondent accompanying the troops.

A group of Kiowa scout helicopters, flying no more than 50 feet above the ground, led a convoy of Bradley fighting vehicles and M1A1 Abrams tanks. In the initial skirmish with Iraqi troops, U.S. forces destroyed six or seven trucks and several tanks. (Full story)

The first coalition forces began crossing from Kuwait into Iraq about 8 p.m. (noon EST) Thursday.

An Iraqi soldier waves a white surrender flag, while a British soldier stands guard in the foreground.
Among the first were U.S. Marines of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, accompanied by a thunderous aerial and artillery barrage on Iraqi positions that felt "like an earthquake," according to a New York Times reporter on the scene.

The Marines encountered and destroyed two Iraqi armored personnel carriers. (Full story)

Iraqi television said early Friday that targets hit by coalition forces included a military site in Basra and another target in Akashat, a town about 300 miles west of Baghdad near the Syrian border. Iraqi television reported that four Iraqi soldiers were killed.

Television in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, showed coalition bombing Friday morning in Basra.

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Iraq 'sets ablaze' 15 oil wells
Friday, March 21, 2003 Posted: 3:08 AM EST (0808 GMT)

KUWAIT CITY (CNN) -- Iraqi troops have set fire to 15 oil wells in southern Iraq, in what appears to be a deliberate act, the Kuwaiti National Guard has said.

A thick haze of dark smoke could be seen over Kuwait City's skyline Friday morning, apparently from the oil field fires.

British officials in Kuwait acknowledged there may be fires near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, but said it was not a major crisis, as they believed their forces would be able to secure the fields largely intact.

Sixty percent of Iraq's oil comes from its southern oil fields.

The news comes one day after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said "as many as three or four" oil wells could be burning on the Iraqi side of the Iraq-Kuwait border.

Pentagon officials told CNN those fires were at well heads and not in oil-filled trenches.

Rumsfeld called it a "crime for that regime to be destroying the riches of the Iraqi people."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said satellite images released on Thursday showed plumes consistent "in detecting oil fires in the past from satellites in space."

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has ordered oil wells to be set ablaze in the past.

After his forces invaded Kuwait in August 1990, and coalition forces were massing together to force them out, Saddam said if he had to be evicted by force, then Kuwait would be burned.

As promised, Iraqi troops set fire to more than 700 oil wells in several Kuwaiti oil fields in 1991 as they were retreating.

Officials from the Kuwait Oil Company reported that all of Kuwait's oil fields had been damaged or destroyed by the Iraqis.

The United States helped Kuwait in an international nine-month effort to extinguish the blazes.

Before the fires, Iraq was responsible for intentionally releasing some 11 million barrels of oil into the Arabian Gulf from January to May 1991, oiling more than 800 miles of Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian coastline.

The amount of oil released was categorized as 20 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska and twice as large as the previous world record oil spill.

The cost of cleanup was estimated at more than $700 million.

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Australian troops in action
Friday, March 21, 2003 Posted: 3:46 AM EST (0846 GMT)

CANBERRA, Australia -- Australian special forces are now operating inside Iraq gathering details on Iraqi troop movements and military targets, Australia's defense department says.

"Our special forces task group has transitioned from the battle-preparation phase ... and is now undertaking active operations inside Iraq," Brigadier Mike Hannan told a news conference in Canberra on Friday.

"The [operations] would include long-range reconnaissance and surveillance operations where they would be seeking detailed information on such things as enemy troop movements, identifying targets such as key military ops and so on," Hannan said.

Australia has committed 150 Special Air Services troops in addition to combat jets, warships and around 1,900 other soldiers, to the U.S.-led attack on Iraq, in what the Australian military have dubbed Operation Falconer.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard confirmed to radio audiences Friday morning the nation's forces had been involved in action against Iraq from the start of the war on Thursday.

"Last night, I spoke by telephone to Brigadier McNarn, who's the Australian Commander in the [Persian] Gulf, and he reported that all of our men and women were in good spirits, their morale was very high," Howard said.

Brigadier Hannan said no Australian forces had been injured in the first phase of the war.

He said Australia's F/A-18 Hornets were flying combat and combat-support operations, providing protection for coalition aircraft against any possible air threats.

"These are demanding missions, and they've seen our aircraft flying well into Iraqi territory," Reuters reports Hannan as saying.

He said the Australian navy was boarding dhows (sailing boats) in the Gulf in the hunt for any escaping Iraqi officials or anyone planting explosives in the harbors and shipping lanes.

"At this point of the operation, our ships are less concerned about contraband than they are with the movement of people who may wish to leave and who we may which to detain, or with the use of the dhows as part of a mining campaign in these narrow waterways," Hannan said.

Australia's government has staunchly supported U.S. President George W. Bush's hard line against Iraq and deployed troops to the Persian Gulf in January in preparation for the war, despite strong public opposition to an attack on Iraq without U.N. approval.

Australian forces also contributed to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

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