Tony Blair today warned that coalition troops would face ”resistance all the way to the end of this campaign” as British forces were again drawn into fierce fighting in southern Iraq.
Speaking at a press briefing in London, Blair said that the push to Baghdad was of ”vital strategic importance” to the campaign.
Despite recent setbacks and strong Iraqi resistance in some areas, the prime minister said that the coalition’s war strategy was ”unfolding exactly according to plan”. He denied that more troops were needed, saying: ”We have the forces we need to do the job.”
Blair spoke as US-led forces advanced to within 50 miles of Baghdad, and waves of coalition warplanes continued a heavy bombardment of Republican Guard units surrounding the city.
Advanced coalition troops are said to be ”taking and consolidating” positions around the city, where they will wait for support lines to be strengthened before launching a final attack.
In southern Iraq, where British forces have been left to mop up pockets of opposition, sporadic outbreaks of fierce fighting continued, claiming the life of a second British soldier.
A British military source told Reuters that there were no plans to accelerate the air campaign into carpet-bombing of Iraq for fear of killing civilians.
The source said that the lack of a northern front for US-British forces meant troops approaching Baghdad from the south would meet tough resistance.
Earlier, US television networks reported that Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guards are preparing to unleash chemical weapons on coalition soldiers.
Pentagon officials believe that the Iraqi leadership has drawn a ”red line” around the city, with Republican Guards authorised to use chemical weapons as soon as coalition forces enter Baghdad, according to CBS News.
Second British soldier killed in action
A soldier in the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch was killed in action last night in an operation near Az Zubayr, near Basra, according to British military officials.
His death was confirmed as the Ministry of Defence named the first British soldier killed in combat in Iraq as Sergeant Steven Mark Roberts of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment.
According to an unconfirmed report in the Daily Telegraph, Sgt Roberts (33) and from Bradford, was shot on Sunday evening while trying to calm rioting Iraqi civilians at Az Zubayr.
Sixteen other British servicemen are known to have died since the conflict began. They were killed in two helicopter accidents and the downing of a British Tornado jet by ”friendly fire” from a US Patriot missile battery.
Another two British soldiers have been missing since their convoy was hit on Sunday in southern Iraq.
Blair and Bush to meet at Camp David
Blair will fly to the US this week to discuss the progress of the war with George Bush, US officials said last night.
The meeting was expected to take place at the Camp David presidential retreat on Thursday, the leaders’ first meeting since war began.
Yesterday Blair told the House of Commons that ground forces were closing in on Baghdad and he added: ”The vital goal is to reach Baghdad as swiftly as possible, thus bringing the end of the regime closer.”
More PoWs appear on Iraqi TV
Iraqi television has shown video of two pilots of a US army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, downed after running into ground fire during a combat mission south-west of Baghdad.
The two men, named as Chief Warrant Officer David Williams and Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young Jr, appeared to be in good health. The soldiers did not say anything and were not questioned in the footage, unlike the five US soldiers captured on Sunday — a move that drew fierce criticism from Washington.
Identity papers belonging to the two men were shown and the broadcast claimed that their helicopter had been shot down by a farmer — a claim denied by the US commander, General Tommy Franks.
The Apache was brought down during a raid with some 40 other US helicopters on elite Iraqi troops who were defending the southern route to Baghdad.
British commander dismisses need for more troops
The commander of British forces in the Gulf today dismissed suggestions that many more troops would be needed to win the war in Iraq.
Air Marshal Brian Burridge said coalition forces were ”balanced” for the twin strategies of fighting for both ”conventional” military control and the ”unconventional” battle for the ”hearts and minds” of the Iraqi people.
Earlier, a former commander from the 1991 Gulf war said the US military had seriously underestimated the number of troops needed to take Baghdad and risked as many as 3,000 casualties.
Retired US Army General Barry McCaffrey, commander of the 24th Infantry Division 12 years ago, told BBC2’s Newsnight the US-UK forces could take Baghdad. But he said the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, had misjudged the nature of the conflict by not sending in more troops to take the Iraqi capital.
Basra now a ‘military target’
British commanders ordered artillery fire on strongholds of resistance in Iraq’s second city
British military officials had said several days ago that they would prefer to negotiate surrenders with enemy troops rather than move into Basra.
But the unexpectedly stiff resistance encountered there — and the desperate need to get humanitarian aid to the city’s 1,3 million people — has led them to declare the town a military target.
Officers are now considering calling in paratroopers and Royal Marine Commandos to use their expertise in urban warfare to secure the area in the face of fierce guerrilla-style tactics.
In Az Zubayr, close to Basra, where two British soldiers have been killed in action, British forces are trying to break the grip of ruling Ba’ath party militia and other forces loyal to Saddam Hussein.
British sources said a party member was captured in a raid last night.
Iraq’s plea for help from Arab ‘brothers’
Iraq’s vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan today issued an appeal to other Arab leaders to place diplomatic pressure on the US and Britain to stop the ”brutal invasion against Iraq and the Arab nation”.
In a televised address Ramadan suggested Arab ”brothers” could impose an oil embargo to halt the coalition’s advance.
And he called other Arab states to force the US and Britain to close their foreign embassies and to allow major public demonstrations against the war by their people.
Earlier, several Iraqi leaders, including Saddam Hussein, issued a defiant challenge to US troops to cross the remaining 50 miles to a showdown in Baghdad.
In a 25-minute speech Saddam taunted US and British forces that he said were ”in real trouble”.
The deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, said only one member of the Iraqi leadership was killed in the bombing that marked the start of the war.
Humanitarian effort to begin
British troops are today hoping to begin the delivery of humanitarian aid to Iraq.
Specialist UK troops have been waiting since Saturday to begin preparing the port of Umm Qasr for huge aid shipments, but have been delayed by fighting on the outskirts of the Kuwaiti border town.
The port was declared secure this morning following sweeps by Royal Marine commandos.
Australian and US mine clearance teams were preparing the port to receive a shipment of aid from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Sir Galahad, carrying water, food, medical supplies and other emergency relief for civilians caught up in the conflict.
Meanwhile, the US government has asked Congress to boost its war and anti-terror budget by almost $75-million — but only a fraction of that will go towards rebuilding Iraq and providing aid for its people.
About $8-billion is set aside for international aid, with just $2,5-billion for humanitarian relief and post-war reconstruction in Iraq — the rest is for countries who have helped the US in the war or in fighting terrorism, including Jordan, Israel and Pakistan.
In a press conference this morning, Iraq’s trade minister, Mohammed Mehdi Saleh, accused the US and Britain of forcing the United Nations to stop a vital relief programme, which allowed the country’s 25 million people to receive food and medicine in return for oil sales. – Guardian Unlimited Â