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A US offensive against Iraq is "inevitable" and last
week's blow to US war threats in the United Nations will only delay
the strikes, a senior Israeli official said on Sunday.
"A military strike is inevitable because Iraq will have to
be stripped of weapons of mass destruction and of the regime"
of President Saddam Hussein, said the official, who asked not to be
named.
"The working hypothesis of the Israeli army is that a US
offensive has only been put off and that Israel must continue its
defence preparations" in case Iraq strikes at the Jewish state
as it did during the 1991 Gulf war.
He said, however, that the volume of anti-war protests gathering
around the world would force Washington to "re-examine"
its position and present concrete proof of Iraqi rearmament before
launching any attack.
On Friday, UN disarmament chief, Hans Blix, reported improved
Iraqi co-operation with his weapons inspectors, but added that
Baghdad had yet to account for banned materials already identified
for destruction by the UN during its field operations in the 1990s.
The report was seen as a blow to US plans to attack Iraq to
punish its failure to fully comply with UN disarmament resolutions.
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