IRAQIS DEPLOY TANKS IN `NO-FLY ZONE'.

Byline: Associated Press 

Just over the line the United States drew to protect the Kurds, 100 Iraqi tanks took up positions on a sun-parched plain Friday as rival Kurdish factions held their fire for the first time in almost a week.

Iraqis and allied Kurds, wearing their traditional olive-green baggy outfit belted by a cotton scarf, set up checkpoints along the road. Earthmovers piled up dirt barriers. Iraqi flags and the yellow banners of their Kurdish allies flew side-by-side above tents.

The site is only 15 miles south of Irbil, the city Iraqi forces captured last week when they intervened to assist the Kurdistan Democratic Party in a battle with a rival group.

The Iraqi position - anti-aircraft batteries, artillery, machine gun nests and mortars surrounded by sandbags - is just north of the 36th parallel, the southern edge of the ``no-fly zone.''

The Iraqis and the KDP teamed up Aug. 31 to drive the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan from Irbil, the main city in the northern ``safe haven'' for Kurds. The Iraqi incursion prompted the United States to launch missile strikes against southern Iraq on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Few countries have supported the U.S. action. The U.N. Security Council dropped consideration Friday of even a toned-down resolution which would have criticized the Iraqi incursion.

Defense Secretary William Perry said Friday the United States saw ``positive developments'' in northern Iraq, now that Saddam Hussein has pulled his forces south of Irbil. But he said the crisis is not yet over.

Asked whether the Clinton administration was satisfied that Saddam was complying with U.S. demands, Perry said: ``So far, so good. But I do not want to be complacent on this at all. We will be watching very, very carefully.''

In Baghdad, Iraq's military command reported 16 sorties by allied warplanes over the northern ``no-fly'' zone and 64 over the expanded southern zone Friday.

``Up to now, our planes and anti-aircraft weapons have been unable to intercept and down any of the enemy planes,'' said a communique carried by the official Iraqi News Agency.

The no-fly zone was declared by the United States, Britain and France in 1991 to protect Kurds from Saddam's air force. It does not prohibit the movement of Saddam's ground forces, including tanks, and has not been ratified by the United Nations.

Washington argues authority to establish the northern no-fly zone and a second to protect Shiites in the south falls under a cease-fire resolution which orders Saddam to stop violating his peoples' human rights.

PUK leader Jalal Talabani told the Associated Press on Friday that Iraqi troops remain a threat to Kurds.

``The Iraqis are not returning to the old lines, as some circles say in the United States,'' he said in a telephone interview. ``On the contrary, the Iraqi troops are advancing to the north of that line.'' Rivals accuse the PUK of accepting assistance from Iran.

The two Kurdish factions battled Thursday in Bestana, about 19 miles southeast of Irbil; Iraqi forces kept close watch but did not intervene.

The rival Kurdish groups refrained from fighting Friday, but there were no signs anyone was retreating.

``Who knows what will happen in an hour's time?'' said U.N. official Paul Dahl, based in Irbil. ``The area is still very tense.''

The alliance between the KDP and Iraq was on full display Friday along the road leading south from Irbil. Roadblocks were manned by Iraqi soldiers and Kurds, beneath flags of both forces. Bulldozers dug trenches and piled up dirt barriers to fortify the positions.

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Photo

Photo: Iraqi Kurds carry water in Irbil, northern Iraq on F riday as the battle-torn city suffers through water and food shortages and electricity problems.

Associated Press