Iraqis fighting back, says Hoon
British troops are facing some resistance from Iraqi forces in and around the port town of Umm Qasr, Britain's Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon confirmed today.
Military officials in the Gulf have predicted that the border town will fall later today, setting up a potentially successful offensive against the second city, Basra.
But speaking on BBC1’s Breakfast programme, Mr Hoon said there was fighting in the Um Qasr area and that showed victory was not a “fait accompli”.
“The Iraqis are putting up a fight. I warned in the House of Commons yesterday about some commentators’ assumptions that this would be over relatively quickly,” he said.
“We are asking the men and women of our armed forces, in co-operation with our allies, to take some serious risks and difficult, military tasks.
“At the same time, they’re putting their lives at risk.”
Mr Hoon also expressed his sadness at the loss of eight British servicemen in a helicopter crash while they took part in an operation to secure the strategic Al Faw peninsula.
“Our first thoughts must be with the families of those who have died in these tragic circumstances,” he told the programme.
“We are doing all we can to notify next of kin as soon as we can.”
Mr Hoon said changes to battle plans were inevitable but operations had so far gone well overall, particularly the Royal Marines and their efforts to secure the Al Faw area.
This was a “vital target”, he said, because of the real fears that the Iraqis would set fire to the oilfields or release their contents into the Gulf, causing an ecological disaster.
Information had been received that about 30 oil wells had been set on fire deliberately, but these represented only a fraction of the total in southern Iraq, he added.
