UN General Assembly
1996

pretext to carry out missile attacks against Iraq and destroy a number of civilian installations, leaving many martyrs and wounded civilians in its wake. 20 The United States Administration was not satisfied with its military aggression against Iraq. The United States President openly announced, on 3 September 1996, his decision to expand the no-fly zone in southern Iraq, which had been imposed by the United States in 1992, from the 32nd parallel to the 33rd parallel. The imposition of no-fly zones in Iraqi airspace is a use of armed force in violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq. It was a unilateral decision that had nothing to do with the United Nations nor with Security Council resolutions on Iraq. This fact was confirmed by the official spokesman of the United Nations on 7 January 1993, when he said that the imposition of the no-fly zone in southern Iraq was not based on any Security Council resolution. The spokesman of the French Foreign Ministry announced on 2 September 1996 that: “There is no United Nations or the Security Council