Chapter 1122: War Spreads
Cyprus.
This is a small country located in the northeastern Mediterranean and is the third largest island in the Mediterranean. The coastline is 782 kilometers long and the land area is 9,251 square kilometers. Among them, the Turkish area in northern Serbia covers an area of 3,355 square kilometers and has a population of 982,200.
In 1878, Cyprus was ceded to the United Kingdom by the Ottoman Empire. In 1925, it became a British "direct colony". On February 19, 1959, it signed the "Zurich-London Agreement" with the United Kingdom, Greece, and Turkey. It declared independence on August 16, 1960. In 1961 Joined the Commonwealth. After independence, the Greek and Turkish ethnic groups clashed many times. After 1974, the Turkish ethnic groups moved northward, forming a situation where the two ethnic groups were divided into the north and the south.
In Cyprus, there is a British Air Force base, and a US Air Force base.
A fighter wing is stationed at two air bases, and the US military has deployed 4 F15 fighter squadrons in Cyprus, with a total of 80 F15 fighter jets.
At this time, ground radar and early warning aircraft had detected incoming missiles and aircraft.
The air defense capability of the air force base is very strong and interceptions are constantly being carried out.
However, no matter how good the air defense system is, it cannot intercept air targets 100%.
Not to mention, Iraq launched so many missiles.
A total of 190 tactical ballistic missiles and fighter jets are coming!
Anti-aircraft missiles were continuously launched to intercept incoming air targets. Some missiles were intercepted and bloomed like fireworks in the sky.
However, they were not stopped by anti-aircraft missiles. Anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns fired wildly, forming dense air defense firepower.
But there are still missiles that have not been intercepted.
These missiles are not high-precision guided missiles, and the deviations are still relatively large.
Some landed on air bases, on runways, or hit targets, and some landed in residential areas.
Deafening explosions continued to sound, fires were everywhere, and gunpowder smoke filled the air.
What is even more frightening is that the pilots of the Iraqi Air Force pressed the button to launch air-to-ground missiles to attack the air defense positions.
One after another, air defense positions were destroyed by air-to-ground missiles.
Then there is the attack on the buildings and runways of the air force base.
There were constant explosions at the two air force bases, with fires and smoke filling the air, as well as screams and desperate roars.
Some Iraqi pilots were angry and threw missiles and bombs at residential areas and commercial centers in Cyprus.
As early as January, Iraq issued a stern warning to Cyprus. Unfortunately, Cyprus did not listen. Now the cruelty of the war has come to Cyprus itself.
The Iraqi Air Force plane flew back, but was intercepted by the coalition air force, and an air battle began.
Iraq, Kurdish Mountains.
When Rashid received a call from Baghdad, he ordered his troops to fire.
In the artillery position, thousands of cannons roared together, firing at the targets that had been aimed in the direction of Türkiye.
In Iraq it is a Kurdish mountainous area, and in Turkey it is also a Kurdish mountainous area.
This shelling mainly targeted roads, bridges, and joint force facilities in Türkiye.
Thousands of cannons fired together, very spectacular!
The roads built in the past few months have been shelled, and the shells even hit the hillsides, causing mud slides and covering the roads.
A missile launch vehicle located on the border launches missiles in the direction of Türkiye.
Many of these missiles are Hussein missiles, Abbas missiles, Scud missiles, and Oka missiles.
The news of the outbreak of the Iraq War spread throughout the world immediately.
After all, Baghdad has many international media offices here.
Even yesterday, March 19, most people around the world hoped that war would not break out.
In this world, peace-loving people are always in the majority.
But now, the war in Iraq has broken out, shattering the dreams and expectations of peaceful people all over the world.
George Walker delivered a nationally televised address: "My fellow citizens: At this very moment the United States and allied forces are in the early stages of militarily disarming Iraq to liberate the Iraqi people and prevent the world from being put in danger."
"Under my order, the Allied forces have begun to destroy important military targets to reduce Saddam's ability to wage war. This is just the beginning, and what will follow will be a comprehensive and widespread attack."
George Walker framed the joint military operation as just, announced the beginning of the war to overthrow Saddam's regime, and emphasized that the war would be "quick and decisive."
At the same time, Saddam also delivered a speech to the country, calling on the Iraqi people to resist US aggression and defeat the US-British coalition forces.
The war came so quickly, causing an uproar in all countries around the world.
This is not a war on terror, this is a war between two countries.
Along with the war, international crude oil rose sharply that day, directly breaking through the 50 US dollars/barrel mark.
Because of the U.S. Navy's blockade, the world was directly cut off from Iraq's 5 million barrels of oil supply per day.
Even if the United States immediately launched its strategic oil reserve, the panic in the market can be imagined.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries are extremely angry. Prior to this, these Arab countries had seriously lodged serious protests with the United States to stop the United States from launching the war in Iraq.
But no one expected that the United States would still insist on launching the Iraq War.
You know, Iraq is a member of the Arab League, and the Iraqi army also has 100,000 people in the Arab League.
The United States launched the Iraq War, directly putting the Arab League and the Arab Coalition in an embarrassing position.
If the Arab League and the Arab Coalition do not take measures, then the Arab League and the Arab Coalition will become a laughing stock, and Arab integration will be severely damaged.
If people's hearts are scattered, it will be difficult to lead the team.
Under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, OPEC held a special meeting, made a decision to reduce production, and imposed an oil embargo on some countries.
Suddenly, international crude oil prices rose further.
The Americans were furious and accused OPEC of intervening in the international oil market, violating the spirit of the market, and needed to be severely punished.
OPEC accused the United States of destroying the peace in the Gulf and causing unstable oil supply, and was responsible for the problems in the oil supply this time.
The Arab League held a special meeting, and a consensus was quickly reached at the meeting, that is, to support Iraq.
This Iraq War is different from the last Gulf War.
The Gulf War, after all, was caused by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Iraq was in the wrong, which caused Arab countries to be wary of Iraq one by one, because no Arab country could compete with Iraq's military strength.
But this time the Iraq War was different. This time it was rashly launched by the Americans in order to covet Iraq's oil and natural gas.
In the final analysis, it was the United States that invaded Iraq!
The entire Middle East has never been so united as it is now. The Arab League and the Arab Coalition did not declare war on the joint forces, but they all expressed support for Iraq.
Volunteers from Arab countries went to Iraq to fight against the joint forces together.