- Israeli special forces are operating inside western Iraq,
pinpointing locations where Iraqi missile launchers might be positioned,
the Jane's Foreign Report newsletter said in its latest issue.
-
- The newsletter said the elite Sayeret Matkal commando
unit was ordered into Iraq "to find and identify places used by, or
likely to be used by, Iraqi Scud missile launchers."
-
- "Our information is that neither Israel nor the
United States have a clue about what, if anything, Saddam Hussein is hiding,"
the newsletter said.
-
- "It was this ignorance that persuaded the (Israeli)
prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to assign the Sayeret Matkal to a job that
is sensitive and dangerous," it said.
-
- During the 1991 Gulf war Iraq fired a total of 39 Scud
missiles over Jordan into Israel. A decade earlier Israeli warplanes had
intervened to bomb and destroy an Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdad.
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- Jane's Foreign Report said there were only certain locations
from where Iraq's remaining Scud missiles could be launched at Israeli
targets, given their limited range.
-
- "Matkal's mission is to detect early preparations,"
it said, adding: "The Israelis believe the Iraqis have hidden their
Scud launchers with great care."
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