Hussein "Victory Is Ours"

The U.S. and British coalition forces encountered fierce resistance from Iraqi elite Republican Guard in an area 75km south of Baghdad on Monday. Coalition forces’ ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ met a major hurdle on the 5th day of war.

Iraqi troops which were forced to retreat by coalition forces’ superior fire power and air raids have built multiple defenses on the outskirts of Baghdad and intermittently conducted guerrilla warfare on coalition forces’ convoys dramatically increasing causalities on both sides’ with soldiers as well as civilians being hurt.

Apache attack helicopters fought a fierce battle against units of Iraq`s Republican Guard, the 2nd Armored Brigade of the Medina Division in positions between Karbala and Hillah for 3 hours on Monday, reported CNN.

Over 100 Iraqi soldiers are conducting guerrilla warfare in the southern Iraqi oil center Basra and port town of Umm Qasr on Monday, reported BBC.

In line with the Baghdad advance of ground forces, the coalition forces bombarded Baghdad in the largest scale so far since the outbreak of war by U.S. warships and warplanes which moved from the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea to the Gulf region and also continued air raids Monday which started on Sunday on major facilities in the northern city of Mosul, reported the Associated Press.

President Saddam Hussein claimed in an address to the nation: “The soldiers and people are fiercely resisting the enemy and our victory is near. The Iraqis will strike at the necks as God has commanded and the invaders will face our heroic resistance.”

U.S. forces are examining a chemical factory near Najaf some 160 kilometers south of Baghdad by the U.S. Army`s 3rd Infantry Division, to see if it manufactured chemical weapons, reported Fox TV, quoting White House officials.

U.S. President George W. Bush had his first press conference since the outbreak of war on Sunday and warned to treat any prisoners "humanely, just as we`ll treat any Iraqi prisoner" and continued “if any Iraqi violates Geneva conventions they will be punished as war criminals.”

International oil prices, which sharply fell after the outbreak of war, rebounded again on Monday at 4 p.m. (KST) as there is strong speculation suggesting that the war will linger for a long time.

New York Mercantile Exchange traded West Texas Crude Oil (WTI) for May delivery at 27.50 dollars a barrel in after-hours trading, up 60 cents. WTI reached a high of 37.83 dollars a barrel on March 11 and recorded 29.31 dollars a barrel on March 18, just before the start of the war.

On the same token, International Petroleum Exchange of London Ltd (IPE) traded Brent crude oil a barrel for May delivery at 24.77, up 0.42 cents and Singapore Dubai for spot-trading was 23.44 dollars per barrel, up 18 cents.