Israelis live in fear of Iraqi attack

CAIRO, February 20: Fear and uncertainty prevails among the Israelis over a possible Iraqi onslaught on its soil even as the United States p...

CAIRO, February 20: Fear and uncertainty prevails among the Israelis over a possible Iraqi onslaught on its soil even as the United States promised to send additional forces to Israel to prevent any air-raids by Baghdad.

“The feeling is one of powerlessness. We want to know if Saddam Hussein would fire Scuds or biological or conventional missiles. The bottom line is that we can do little to influence the situation. So we buy tape, stock up food, masks and fly around reciting prayers acts that give us a feeling of some kind of control,” an Israeli newspaper said voicing the prime concern of most Israelis today.

Though the Israeli government has said that a missile strike on it by Iraq may not take place, it has simulataneously geared up its citizens to withstand an onslaught by Saddam Hussein, reports The Jerusalem Post.

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile, the US has promised to send Israel additional Patriot missiles and launchers if UN Secretary General Kofi Annan failed in his mediation efforts, Israeli defencesources said.

Sources in Tel Aviv said the US and Germany had provided Israel much aid which included several galaxy cargo planes filled with equipment from the US.

The Turkish ambassador to the US has said if Iraq fired missiles at Israel, Turkey would consider a request from Israel to fly its planes over Turkish soil to strike back. Israelis have not yet made such a request.

At a discussion on Thursday, defence ministry officials in Tel Aviv felt Saddam Hussein could have shifted a part of cache of non-conventional weapons from Baghdad to remote locations.