1 Iraq accused Iran of backing a cross-border attack in the southern marshes and warned Monday that it will 'retaliate firmly.' It accused Kuwait of complicity in the assault.
2 The report by the official Iraqi News Agency, monitored in Nicosia, claimed that Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim opposition forces launched an offensive in the Howeizah marshes of southern Iraq at the weekend.
3 Iraqi opposition sources reported Sunday that heavy fighting was going on in southern Iraq, but gave few details.
4 The INA dispatch gave some credence to those reports, but it too provided only the barest details.
5 Usually when there is heavy fighting in southern Iraq, the official Iranian media plays it up. But this time it has not, suggesting that the Iranian-backed opposition, if indeed it it had launched an attack, had not made much headway.
6 Iraq and Iran were at war from 1980 to 1988. The fighting ended in August 1988 when Tehran agreed to a U.N.-brokered cease-fire, but no formal peace treaty has yet been signed.
7 INA said the reported rebel offensive began Saturday and that by Sunday, 'our forces had repulsed the attack and regained control of the situation.'
8 The news agency claimed that 'heavy losses were inflicted on the attacking force and that four people were captured, two of them Iranians.' It did not elaborate.
9 INA said the attack was part of the 'undeclared coordination between the U.S. administration and the Iranian regime' against Iraq and claimed that Kuwait was involved in 'financing activities that aim at destabilizing the internal situation in Iraq.'
10 INA quoted an unidentified Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that 'a large force of armed elements belonging to the Iranian regime launched a large-scale attack on Iraqi units in the Howeizah marshes after midnight Saturday, using all types of light and medium weapons.'
11 'Fierce battles raged all day Saturday and by Sunday our forces had repulsed the attack and regained control of the situation. Heavy losses were inflicted on the attacking forces,' the report said.
12 The Iraqi statement bore striking similarities to the allegations Baghdad made in the runup to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Under pressure from the United Nations, Baghdad last November grudgingly recognized Kuwait's sovereignty.
13 'We strongly warn the Iranian regime that acts of aggression directed against Iraq will be firmly retaliated against on the principle of reciprocity,' the Iraqi statement said.
14 'We also warn the Kuwaiti rulers against violation of principles of international law by financing acts directed against Iraq's security and sovereignty,' the statement said.
15 Iran's state-run media made no mention of any significant clashes in southern Iraq, which it usually does when Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim forces are involved.

Iraq accused Iran of backing a cross - border attack in the southern marshes and warned Monday that it will " retaliate firmly . " It accused Kuwait of complicity in the assault .
Iraq accused Iran
What is the evidence for this claim?