Tuesday, December 29, 1998 Published at 17:40 GMT
Containment: The Iraqi no-fly zones
The no-fly zones over Iraq may have taken on a greater significance in the Gulf following the end of Operation Desert Fox.
BBC Defence correspondent Nick Childs says the zones are now crucial to the US and British containment policy against Saddam Hussein.
"In the light of the fact that there are no inspections on the ground at the moment one could argue that the no-fly zones have become to some extent a more important plank in that containment policy at least for the time being," he said.
The United States has more than 200 aircraft based in the Gulf, including B52 bombers and B1 stealth bombers, some based on the UK's Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.
The two no-fly zones, one in the north and another in the south of Iraq, were unilaterally created by the US, Britain and France soon after the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq was banned from using all aircraft, including helicopters, in the air exclusion zones.
The Northern Zone
The Southern Zone
Known as Operation Southern Watch, it came about after the UN passed a resolution condemning President Saddam Hussein for the repression of Iraq's civilian population. At first the zone covered mainly marshlands and included Basra, Iraq's second largest city.
Late in 1996, it was extended northward, closer to the Iraqi capital, to the 33rd parallel, covering the southern third of Iraq. The expansion came after Iraq intervened in fighting between Kurdish factions around the city of Irbil, a UN-designated safe haven.
France refused to participate in patrolling the extended zone.
LEGITIMACY OF THE BAN
Baghdad has questioned the international legitimacy of the no-fly zones claiming that there are no UN Security Council resolutions mandating their enforcement.
Immediately after the southern expansion, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said he would no longer recognise the no-fly zones and urged his troops to shoot down US planes.
Washington has long argued that Resolution 688, which stipulates that Iraq cannot hurt its own people, provides the legal basis for the zones.
However US officials are aware that this position is not universally acknowledged. Russia, for instance, has stated that the zones have not been backed by specific UN resolutions.
BREACHING THE BAN
The British Ministry of Defence maintains that the no-fly zones remain exclusive.
It says no Iraqi aircraft, be they military or civilian, are allowed to fly in the zone and any other country approaching the airspace is warned off.
But the zones have been breached by Iraq on several past occasions, with varying consequences.