US troops to join Israelis in Iraq war exercises

American troops will begin joint exercises with Israel this week to help prepare for possible Iraqi missile attacks, the latest signthat military manoeuvres are being stepped up across the Middle East.

After a live-fire exercise in Kuwait over the weekend, about 1,000 US troops are expected to arrive in Israel, bringing with them the latest version of the Patriot missile – used with minimal success against Iraqi Scuds during the 1991 Gulf War. The Patriots will be deployed alongside a new anti-missile system, the Arrow, which was developed by the Israelis and the Americans.

In contrast to 1991, when the Americans kept their distance from the Israelis to avoid Arab defections from their anti-Saddam coalition, the Bush administration appears to be cultivating a cosy relationship with the Israeli government. The US troops are expected to stay in Israel throughout any conflict, training Israeli missile deployment crews and fighting alongside them if necessary.

The Americans are also reported to have stationed an Aegis destroyer equipped with sophisticated radar and shorter-range anti-missile defences in the Mediterranean off the coast of Israel.

In contrast to 1991, when George Bush Snr successfully persuaded Yitzak Shamir, the Israeli prime minister, not to retaliate under fire, this Bush administration has given its tacit agreement for Israel to strike back if Iraq launches a chemical or biological attack.

The Israeli civilian authorities are already busy preparing for such an eventuality, increasing smallpox vaccinations and helping families to check gas masks and other emergency equipment.

There was no immediate comment on this visible manifestation of the close US-Israeli relationship. However, Igor Ivanov, the Russian Foreign Minister, expressed misgivings about America's apparent determination to fight a war, come what may.

Mr Ivanov said he saw no justification for war and said the United States, with the other members of the UN Security Council, should focus on ensuring that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction.

"We should work to reach this goal," he said. "If anyone else wants to follow some other aims, that is outside the sphere of [Russia's] interests."

Asked specifically about the prospect of a war, Mr Ivanov said: "On what basis, and what is the aim?"

The Iraqis launched a volley of propaganda aimed at widening the rift between the Bush administration and the international community, particularly the United Nations weapons inspectors now in Iraq.

Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser, General Amer al-Saadi, accused the United States of interfering with the UN inspections process and insisted that his government had no weapons of mass destruction to hide.

Seizing on complaints by Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, that the American and British intelligence services had failed to pass on information about the whereabouts of possible chemical and biological weapons facilities, General Saadi said he would have no problem inviting the CIA to stand alongside UN inspectors and guide them in their work – the implication being that the Americans knew nothing because there was nothing to know.

"Why don't they let the specialised organs of the United Nations get on with their task? Why interfere in this rude fashion?" he said.

Similar sentiments were expressed in the newspaper Babil, run by President Saddam's son Uday, which said in a front-page editorial: "Everybody knows that if they [the Americans] had concrete information, they would have put it on television all around the world before giving it to the inspection teams."

* Downing Street has called for more co-ordinated terror alerts after warnings that the public are being scared by suggestions that Britain is on the brink of an attack.

Number 10 wants to see coordinated alerts from Whitehall departments after a series of warnings suggesting that "sooner or later" a terrorist would get through and that an attack was so imminent the public should build a system of "national resilience".