U.S. Faces Stiff Resistance in Iraq

American ground forces have progressed to 160km south of Baghdad while U.S. led coalition forces have continuously bombarded Baghdad on a large scale on Sunday (local time), the fourth day of the war.

If the American troop advance doesn`t change, the American ground troops will encounter Special Republican Guards in Iraq on Monday.

However, Iraqi resistance is getting stronger as U.S. troops come closer to Baghdad, and Saddam Hussein hasn’t lost control on his 6 divisions of the Republican Guards, so there are speculations that the war wouldn’t end in a short time.

The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division engaged with the Iraqi troops at a position 160km south of Baghdad at dawn on Sunday, reported the BBC. The 101st Airborne Division also crossed the Kuwait-Iraq border and invaded Iraq.

U.S.-British coalition forces seized most of the southern regions of Iraq on Saturday night and captured and crossed the Euphrates Bridge on Saturday which was considered another major hurdle. The bombardment which started Friday night continued till Sunday sunset and missiles were fired intermittently at major facilities in Baghdad.

Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke claimed, “United States has been holding a variety of conversations and discussions in a variety of ways with Iraqi leaders” and “The Iraqi regime will soon collapse, it’s just a matter of time.”

The Washington Post however, reported that ground troops are encountering stronger resistance than expected. The New York Times also reported that Iraqi missiles have not vanished but redeployed and the Iraqi missile assault will be reinforced against advancing U.S. troops.

“Over 20 U.S. Special Forces have been captured while infiltrating into Baghdad,” reported Arab Emirates Arabia TV on Sunday. Four U.S. soldiers were also killed in a grenade attack by Iraqi soldiers in a middle region of Iraq on Saturday, so causalities for coalition forces are now over 25.

Iraq forces claimed that their air defenses shot down 21 cruise missiles of coalition forces on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a U.S. patriot missile may have shot down a British Royal Air Force Tornado aircraft that was reported missing near Kuwait on Sunday, U.S. and Britain`s Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

sechepa@donga.com