CSIS_______________________________ Center for Strategic and International Studies 1800 K Street N.W. Washington, DC 20006 (202) 775-3270
[email protected] The Iraq War: A Working Chronology Anthony H. Cordesman Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy April 2003 Cordesman: the Iraq War: Working Chronology 4/14/03 Page 2 The Chronology of the Iraq War 18/19 March: Prelude Operation SOUTHERN WATCH Coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons today to target several Iraqi military targets in southern and western Iraq. The Coalition executed the strikes after Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery at Coalition aircraft patrolling the Southern No-Fly Zone south of the 33rd Parallel in Iraq. So far this year, Iraqi air defense troops had fired either surface-to-air missiles or anti-aircraft artillery more than 170 times. Targets and locations were: communication sites near Ash Shuaybah, Mudaysis and Ruwayshid; long-range artillery near Az Zubayr; a mobile early-warning radar and an air defense command center at an Iraqi air base in western Iraq; long-range artillery on the Al Faw peninsula; a surface-to-surface missile system near Al Basrah; and an air traffic control radar near Al Basrah. The Coalition struck the communications sites and the early-warning radar because they enhanced Iraq’s integrated air-defense system. The artillery was struck because they were a danger to Coalition ground troops in Kuwait. The air traffic control radar was used to direct Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery fire at Coalition aircraft Coalition aircraft dropped capitulation leaflets over suspected Iraqi troop locations. The leaflets gave detailed instructions about how Iraqi troops could avoid being harmed by Coalition forces in the event of military action.