Air Force Brigadier General John Rosa told reporters at the Pentagon July 13 that coalition aircraft launched precision-guided munitions (PGM) against Iraqi air defense facilities July 13 as part of Operation Southern Watch.

The director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said a second air strike occurred on an Iraqi mobile radar on July 14. The radar, associated with a mobile surface-to-air missile system," was hit "because it presented an imminent threat to our air crews and coalition aircraft flying in the No-Fly Zone," Rosa said.

Rosa, who made his comments during a briefing to provide an update on the situation in Afghanistan, said the Iraqis had moved the radar south into the southern No-Fly Zone.

He said coalition strikes have not been ratcheted up. The Iraqi command-and-control facility attacked in the July 13 incident "had earlier helped direct air attack against coalition aircraft," according to Rosa. Following September 11, 2001, the number of firings against coalition aircraft subsided somewhat, he said, but now "they're back up to the normal levels."