Besiege of ditches of blood in al-Najaf, Kerbala; Baghdad appeals Ankara for help
Iraq-Jordan, Military, 4/2/2003

In the 13th day of the war against Iraq, the invading American- British forces escalated their military operations and bloody attacks in southern Iraq in an attempt to tighten the belt on al-Najaf, Kerbalaa and al-Basra and to enhance its position on the outskirts of al-Kout in preparation for the next move -- the besiege of Baghdad.

Meantime, the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein urged the Iraqis to fight the invaders. This was expressed in a speech dominated by Islamic preaching, calling for "Jihad." Saddam also recalled the Mogol's invasion of Baghdad seven centuries earlier. The Iraqi minister of information Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf read the speech via the TV on behalf of the Iraqi president.

Upon the criticism launched by the Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri against Jordan on Monday, the Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan strongly criticized Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and accused the Saudi foreign minister prince Saud al-Faisal of being "a hireling" for the US.

This, however, provoked the Saudi prince to clarify a previous statement in which he said he had "recommended" Saddam Hussein sacrifice himself for his country by resigning his position to save Iraq.

On Tuesday, Iraq extended an appeal to Turkey in which it called on it to remember "centuries of history and to help Iraq in expelling" the American and British forces from its territories. This was on the wake of the talks that were due to be held by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Ankara today, in which Powell was expected to ask Turkey for its support to its military operations in northern Iraq.

Amid the bodies of 130 Iraqi civilians who were killed, which increased the number of Iraqis killed to more than 1,000 and the wounded to thousands, the invading American and British forces escalated their operations at two basic axes: Kerbala- al-Najaf and al-Nasereyah al-Kout, in what seems an attempt to achieve breakthrough aiming at eliminating the Iraqi military units stationed in the two areas or at least conducive to force the Iraqi resistance force to withdraw to back lines, on the ground of depending on missile and air raids which never stopped.

In Baghdad it seems that the American and British forces are seeking to invest "the waiting time" and concentrate its air and missile raids at the positions of the Iraqi regime, and the units of the Republican Guards, Fedayee Saddam group as well as the telecommunications systems with the aim to prepare the atmosphere for the arrival of American reinforcements by the end of this month, April.

Meantime, an Iraqi military spokesman said yesterday that 23 British and American soldiers were killed on Monday in an Iraqi attack carried out by "Fedayee Saddam" in Zee Qae province, 300 Km southern of Baghdad. The spokesman said that two Arab fighters of "Fedayee Saddam" were killed in the operation.

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