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PARIS — Iraq fired surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns at American and British warplanes patrolling a "no-fly" zone Friday -- a move the U.S. considers to be a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. David Lapan said Iraq fired surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery at coalition planes. The shots came from Iraqi positions near the southern city of An Najaf, said Cmdr. Dan Gage, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command. In retaliation, coalition planes used precision-guided weapons to attack an air defense communications facility near An Najaf about 85 miles southeast of Baghdad, the Pentagon said. The strike happened at about 2:50 p.m. EST.On Saturday, an Iraqi military spokesman told the official Iraqi News Agency that the coalition planes bombed areas in Najaf province, 93 miles south of Baghdad on Friday, killing seven and injuring four others in the process. The U.S. military did not comment immediately and it was impossible to independently verify the Iraqi claim.It was the first coalition strike on Iraq since President Saddam Hussein\'s government accepted the Security Council resolution that demanded he disarm and allow inspectors to search for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Iraq claims it has no such weapons.There were strikes Sunday against two surface-to-air missile sites near Tallil, 175 miles southeast of Baghdad.A material breach must be reported to the Security Council for new debate and could be used as possible justification for U.S.-led military action to remove Saddam\'s government.State Department spokesman Frederick Jones said the United States had the option of reporting the Iraqi firing to the Security Council but had not decided whether to do so.President Bush and other U.S. officials have said Iraq\'s firing on coalition planes patrolling the northern and southern no-fly zones would violate the latest resolution.But Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials have been vague about whether such actions would be considered a trigger for a wider U.S.-led attack.The latest U.N. Security Council resolution, passed 15-0 on Nov. 8, prohibits Iraq from taking or threatening any hostile action against countries "taking action to uphold any council resolution." The United States and Britain say they established the no-fly zones to enforce Security Council resolutions calling on Saddam to end attacks on Kurds in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south.The resolutions do not specifically deal with interdiction zones.Iraq calls the zones a violation of its sovereignty and has so far unsuccessfully tried to shoot down the warplanes that patrol them.Weapons Inspectors Have Long Road AheadMeanwhile, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix warned Saturday that the inspectors\' job would not be easy when they return to Iraq later this month."We are fully aware of the difficulties and the uncertainties, but we\'ll do out best," Blix said on arrival in Paris, where he was to meet France\'s foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin.Blix was in Paris on his way to Cyprus, where an advance team of U.N. inspectors was gathering. The team is expected to fly to Baghdad on Monday with Mohamed El Baradei, his counterpart at the International Atomic Energy Agency, with inspections possibly beginning Nov. 27. Blix will report to the council 60 days afterward on the progress of the work.Blix told a joint news conference with de Villepin later Saturday that he couldn\'t rule out there might be spies among the team due to resume weapons inspections in Iraq, but any intelligence agents would be ordered off the group.Iraq has accused some previous U.N. arms inspectors of being spies working directly for the United States, but Blix said he could not be sure that his team would be free of undercover agents.He stressed that the group was made up of 45 different nationalities in an effort to ensure it remained impartial."All I can say is that if I see someone having two hats, then I would ask them to walk out from us and to be somewhere else," Blix said.Based on Blix\'s report, the Security Council will determine if Iraqi actions merit a military response.New technologies introduced since U.N. inspectors left Iraq in 1998 will make it easier to detect evidence of Iraq\'s suspected weapons programs, Blix said.Iraq must declare all of its weapons programs to the United Nations by Dec. 8. The Iraqi declaration will then be compared with previous data inspectors have.Saddam\'s government told Iraqis on Friday they must welcome the inspection team.The dictator said Saturday the United States and Israel had shown their "claws and teeth" and declared unilateral war on the Iraqi people, leaving him no choice but to accept the tough new U.N. security council resolution.In an open letter to members of Iraq\'s parliament, he said he hoped the return of U.N. weapons inspectors would allow the Security Council "to see the truth as it really is about Iraq being completely free of weapons of mass destruction."A small advance team will join the two chief inspectors to prepare the inspection process. Blix said the team would reopen the office used by the previous inspections regime and would set up secure phone lines, prepare transportation and order helicopters.Blix was quoted in the French paper Le Monde as saying inspectors have identified some 700 sites to check in Iraq.He also said that an Iraqi delay of even 30 minutes in granting inspectors access to a site would be considered a serious violation.Blix told Le Monde that weapons inspectors would try to keep the location of the sites secret and provide no notice to Baghdad.In New York Friday, Blix warned Saddam that the Security Council won\'t tolerate "cat and mouse" games.And in Miami, Fla., Friday night, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev told those attending a benefit for the Children\'s World Blood Bank that these past months of discussion about returning weapons inspectors to Iraq are a necessary dialogue among the world\'s most powerful nations.The discussions have been helpful, Gorbachev says, in part because "it is wrong to start military action when the situation is not going to be clear."Iraq Bashes U.S., Britain on Oil-for-Food ProgramIn other Iraq news, Reuters news agency reports that Iraq accused the United States and Britain on Saturday of blocking contracts for supplies under the U.N. oil-for-food program worth more than $7.5 billion.Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh said "2,144 contracts totaling $7.583 billion are still blocked...due to obstacles set by the American and British delegates in committee 661."Saleh was referring to the U.N. sanctions committee on Iraq grouping all 15 members of the Security Council. The oil-for-food program is designed to help alleviate the suffering of ordinary Iraqis. Iraq can sell oil to purchase food, medicine and a host of other supplies.He repeated Iraq\'s demands that the only way to end the suffering of the Iraqi people was by lifting the harsh sanctions regime the country has suffered since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.Saleh said he was most concerned for the country\'s dilapidated oil industry, with 719 orders for spare parts and equipment for the sector put on hold. He said that other blocked applications include 167 orders for food, 153 for medicines, 251 for agriculture and irrigation, and 176 for water and sanitation. Supplies for education, housing, transportation and electricity were also blocked, he said.
