Historic port city set to fall to invaders

COALITION forces were last night poised to take the strategic city of Basra as the war against Saddam Hussein looked like entering a new phase.

US and British forces were on the outskirts of Basra as much of southern Iraq came under the control of allied forces, British Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Michael Boyce said.

In a country wracked by war and constant bloodshed the key city of Basra has been at the centre of all turmoil. The ancient port is the first

major city on the road to Baghdad and, as such, a vital military target.

The road to Basra, dubbed the Highway of Death, provided some of the most shocking images of the first Gulf War, when thousands of fleeing Iraqi troops perished in wave after wave of US air bombardment.

Iraq's second largest city is an important trade and commercial centre, the nation's major port and home to many oil refineries.

Iraqi opposition sources also say the Khawr al-Zubayar factory at Basra produced heavy water used in the atomic energy programme. Situated in south-east Iraq it is only 30 minutes' drive from the Kuwaiti border. It is also only 340 miles south of Baghdad, close to the border with Iran, and 75 miles from the open sea of the Persian Gulf.

It is on the vital Shatt al-Arab waterway, the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates without which Iraq would be effectively landlocked.

By Iraq standards Basra is still relatively prosperous and has choking traffic, busy mosques and bustling markets. People have been buying only essentials in anticipation of imminent cuts in electricity and water supplies.

Basra's 400,000 or so population is already battle-hardened. Iraqis are used to war and violence and no more so than those living in Basra.

US and British jets have been flying into Iraq from Kuwait almost every day in recent years to patrol the southern no-fly zone. Each day air-raid sirens wailed out, but Basra's people just went about their daily business.

The Basra teaching hospital was already geared up to receive 100 casualties a day and has five generators in case of electricity shortages.

The city's key location has made it an area of conflict throughout history, with both the Turks and the Iranians contesting its ownership. It was founded in AD 636 by the caliph Umar I, and the British first occupied Basra in WW1 and used its port, remaining there until 1930.