@@ Iran fires at terrorist forces @@
Arash
March 23, 2003
Iranians take pot shots at US-British forces in Iraq
FAO, Southern Iraq -- Coalition forces have come under fire from Iranian
military units across the border from Iraq, British commandos said.
Iranian anti-aircraft gun emplacements and fixed machine-gun posts have
opened fire sporadically at British Royal Marine commandos and low-flying US
aircraft.
The 40 Commando marines were in the far southern town of Fao locked in a
fire fight with Iraqi Baath party fighters just a few hundred metres (yards)
from the border between the two countries, the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
A Royal Marines spokesman said: "We are content that the fire from Iran was
inaccurate and ineffective, but none the less puzzling".
The first of several volleys, witnessed by a reporter from London's Daily
Mirror, was directed at a US A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack jet which
swooped low over the Iraqi town to 'buzz' a gun position.
Royal Marines spotted at least one anti-aircraft tower on the Iranian side
of the waterway attempting to target the jet.
None of the Iranian fire was accurate and all coalition personnel were left
unharmed by it.
British and US troops did not return the fire, but they have orders that
allow them to do so if it is necessary for self-defence.
Other pot shots at US-led forces from Iran further north by the border have
also been reported in the last few days.
It is not thought the incidents were given official authorisation from
Tehran. The Islamic republic's leaders publicly oppose the US-led invasion
of Iraq that begun last Thursday.
Iranians living on or near the border with Iraq were suspected of having
sympathies with their Iraqi neighbours.
www.spacewar.com/2003/030323171315.pn6pil6a.html