- News>
- World
French mirage makes first surveillance flight over Iraq
Baghdad, Feb 27: A French mirage jet used by UN arms inspectors staged its first surveillance flight over Iraq, the Iraqi foreign ministry said.
Baghdad, Feb 27: A French mirage jet used by UN arms inspectors staged its first surveillance flight over Iraq, the Iraqi foreign ministry said.
The plane overflew Iraqi territory yesterday twice – the first flight lasting one and a half hours and the second 50 minutes, the ministry said in a statement.
"The plane entered Iraqi airspace at 10.30 am (1300 IST) and left at 12.00 am (1430 IST). It entered again at 12.20 pm (1450 IST) and left at 1.10 pm (1540 IST)," it said. France has deployed two Mirage IV spy planes, based in Saudi Arabia, for use in reconnaissance and observation missions over Iraq as part of the UN weapons inspection process.
This followed Iraq's unconditional acceptance on February 10 of flights over its territory by spy planes, including US- operated U2s, French mirage jets and Russian-made Antonov aircraft. The first U2 spy plane overflew Iraq on February 17.
Iraq had previously sought to link the flights to the scrapping of "no-fly" zones enforced by US and British warplanes over the north and south of the country since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.
Baghdad argued it could not guarantee the safety of the flights while the two allies bombed targets in the zones.
US warplanes went into action for a second consecutive day yesterday, bombing air defence communications nodes at two sites in Southern Iraq after Iraqi military aircraft penetrated the no-fly zone, the US military said. Bureau Report
"The plane entered Iraqi airspace at 10.30 am (1300 IST) and left at 12.00 am (1430 IST). It entered again at 12.20 pm (1450 IST) and left at 1.10 pm (1540 IST)," it said. France has deployed two Mirage IV spy planes, based in Saudi Arabia, for use in reconnaissance and observation missions over Iraq as part of the UN weapons inspection process.
This followed Iraq's unconditional acceptance on February 10 of flights over its territory by spy planes, including US- operated U2s, French mirage jets and Russian-made Antonov aircraft. The first U2 spy plane overflew Iraq on February 17.
Iraq had previously sought to link the flights to the scrapping of "no-fly" zones enforced by US and British warplanes over the north and south of the country since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.
Baghdad argued it could not guarantee the safety of the flights while the two allies bombed targets in the zones.
US warplanes went into action for a second consecutive day yesterday, bombing air defence communications nodes at two sites in Southern Iraq after Iraqi military aircraft penetrated the no-fly zone, the US military said. Bureau Report