頑張れイスラエル！

米軍部隊1000人がイスラエルへ

【カイロ＝松尾博文】イスラエル放送によると、ドイツ駐留の米軍部隊約1000人が数日中にイスラエル入りする。イスラエル軍との防空演習が目的と説明しているが、演習後も駐留を続ける見通しだ。米海軍のフリゲート艦もイスラエル沖に移動する予定。イラク攻撃をにらんだ米軍の中東展開の一環とみられる。

イスラエル軍筋によると、軍は空軍部隊や迎撃ミサイル部隊に1月中旬までに実戦への準備を終えるよう指示した。湾岸戦争でイラクはイスラエルにスカッドミサイルを撃ち込んでおり、今回も警戒を強めている。 (18:51)

http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/kaigai/20021223AT2M2200B22122002.html

Israel Steps Up Preparations for Gulf War

Israel has stepped up preparations for a possible U.S. war against Iraq, scheduling joint exercises with U.S. forces and gas mask lessons for schoolchildren, Israeli officials said on Sunday.

Israeli media reported Israel would go on high alert from January 15 in anticipation that hostilities would erupt in the Gulf some time between January 27 and February 26.

The Defense Ministry would not confirm the date, but said Israeli security forces have been preparing for a possible Iraqi attack.

Israel is concerned that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will respond to any U.S. strike by launching missiles armed with chemical or biological warheads against the Jewish state which has been fighting a Palestinian uprising since September 2000.

Some 1,000 U.S. troops are expected in Israel this week for an exercise involving U.S.-made Patriot missiles, which were largely ineffective in intercepting the 39 Scud missiles that Iraq fired at the Jewish state in the 1991 Gulf War.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=1948734

No Israeli flag in Baghdad

Like an ostracized kid whom the others don't want to allow into the game, Israel has been told to drop the idea of attacking Iraq in the event that it is attacked. This is a war of the big boys, Washington is saying, and in an international conflict the Israeli flag is a disruptive factor. The United States wants to foment a world war against Iraq in which as many countries as possible will participate, to mobilize the support - or at least the neutrality - of the Arab states, to forestall a situation of instability in the Islamic countries, to eliminate Saddam Hussein, to establish a local regime in Iraq and to continue to preserve its status in the Middle East.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=243500&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

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合衆国によるイラク攻撃が想定される日時が具体的に記載されています。以前、田中宇氏が示唆されていたイスラエル国防軍によるヨルダン通過は無さそうな気配ですね。