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Military Build-up Alarms Gulf Arabs
Monday, October 1, 2001
(14:19 GMT) (15:19 UK)
By Frank Gardner / BBC Middle East correspondent

Faisal, an Omani merchant, says the West needs to solve Muslim grievances, such as those of the Iraqis and the Palestinians, or else the threat of terrorism will never go away.

Oman -- BBC
As US and British warships concentrate in the region around the Gulf, local Arabs fear that a western military strike against their fellow Muslim neighbour Afghanistan is imminent.

Around 24 British Royal Navy warships, as well as 23,000 British troops, are gathering in Oman for long-planned exercises with the Omanis, known as Saif Sareea 2.

Despite rumors, officers say it is purely an exercise.

It is the biggest UK military deployment to the Middle East since the 1991 Gulf war, but British officers insist that despite the rumours, it remains purely an exercise.

On the scorching deck of HMS Illustrious, Britain's most powerful aircraft carrier, Harrier jump jets and Navy helicopters have been standing in neat lines, their fuselages glinting in the midday sun.
(More: BBC News Source)
2001 © BBC

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