Posted: 5/5/2002 11:08:13 AM EDT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 3, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
While no official word has been issued from any world capital concerning the imminence of a U.S. offensive against Baghdad, DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military experts report that the region's armies are all busy in one way or another getting ready for a surprise U.S. strike on Baghdad and its regional backlash.
Our sources this week followed the heightened movements of men, tanks, guns, missiles, warplanes and carriers:
Iraq
For most of the last month, Iraq has been massing troops in the west along the Jordanian and Syrian borders for fear of a surprise U.S. military assault on Baghdad by ground or airborne troops from bases in Jordan, Israel and the Sinai, or from aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean, DEBKA reports. Two mechanized divisions and the Republican Guard's Babylon armored division are deployed at the al-Baghdadi base near the town of Arbuta. Additional anti-aircraft units have reinforced this facility. Planes carrying chemical weapons have been spotted recently at several Iraq airfields, mainly the al-Sharaa military airbase 270 miles north of Baghdad and west of the River Tigris.
Israel
In the last two weeks, according to DEBKA, Israel has stepped up preparations for standing up to a nuclear, biological and chemical attack. The Israel Defense Forces high command has ordered new units to be set up quickly for training in locating, identifying and neutralizing nuclear, biological and chemical substances. Thousands of officers and soldiers, including reservists, have been drawn from various branches of the military and attached to the new units. They are undergoing lightening two-week NBC courses, at the end of which they are assigned to permanent sectors.
One group has been based with commando forces as well as the armored, mechanized infantry, artillery and combat intelligence corps. A second group will be deployed at key points in Israeli cities, such as power stations and water pumping facilities, and distributed among street blocks.
Unit equipment and soldiers' personal gear are stored close to these sectors of operation, readily available in an emergency. These trainees, officers and men are told explicitly to prepare in the very short term for an Iraqi attack that will include missile and bomber strikes using nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
TV and radio stations were ordered to set up alternative studios and broadcasting facilities capable of functioning under Iraqi missile attack.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military sources say Israel's high command has given the national home-front service until May 25 to complete the formation of the new units as well as their training and equipment. The home-front command has received the rating of a combat post. Only the northern command in charge of Israel's volatile Syrian and Lebanese borders has been ranked higher.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military sources add that at the height of Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank 10 days ago, Israel secretly began deploying large armored contingents on its border with Egypt in the wake of intelligence information on Sinai-related Egyptian military preparations.
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