MILITARY ANALYSIS: Iraqi military tactics show a callous disregard for the rules of war and civilians, writes Tom Clonan.
The current sandstorms are providing the Al Medina division of the Iraqi Republican Guard with some respite from US helicopter activity in the Karbala area.
In an unequal struggle against a technologically superior adversary with total domination of Iraqi airspace, Saddam's commanders appear desperate to exploit any battlefield advantages that present themselves.
This will include deploying field units in urban areas and interspersing tanks and artillery among a civilian population unable to evacuate from cities such as Basra and Baghdad. It is also reported to include the phenomenon of non-uniformed combatants. That these strategies are in direct contravention of the Geneva Convention will be of no concern to Saddam and his inner circle.
In terms of psychological operations, the Iraqis have engaged in a vigorous campaign designed to counter the US and British propaganda effort. While the US and British have sought to demonise the Baghdad regime, Saddam and his cronies have used the still-functioning Iraqi media to demonise advancing allied troops. They have paraded across their television screens pictures of dead marines and captive US troops and pilots. They have referred to them as infidels and have described US troops as "invaders who will be buried in Iraq".
This has had a traumatic effect on US and UK viewers and has struck a raw nerve with the Bush administration. Donald Rumsfeld was sufficiently moved by the images to warn Iraqi civilian workers to quit Saddam's television studios - presumably as their destruction is imminent.
In response to Gen Franks's assertions at Centcom's headquarters (Central Command HQ) in Doha that the ground campaign is a success with the allied advance "at times dramatic", the Iraqis have countered with a chilling message. The Iraqi Information Ministry has indicated that the allies are "welcome to the desert" and that their arrival in Baghdad would be eagerly awaited by the city's defenders.
This overt reference to urban warfare is clearly designed to rob Bush and Blair of any public support for the war. While relatively invulnerable on the battlefield, Saddam knows that those forces ranged against him are vulnerable to the vagaries of public opinion on the home front.
In terms of the actual fighting, Saddam's troops have achieved some minor successes. Attempts to erode the will to fight on the part of Iraqi regular army units by leafleting and selective aerial bombardment have failed.
The Iraqi 4th Army Corps based at Al Amara, north of Basra, is a case in point. Reinforced by the 51st Mechanised Zubayr Division for the defence of Basra, this regular army formation was expected to surrender.
When engaged by the British 1st Armoured Division, it was reported, rather prematurely it would seem, that the 51st Division had surrendered en masse. It would now appear that the Iraqi 4th Army Corps is engaged in a counterattack in the Basra area. This type of counterattack, with one division deployed to a forward position and two divisions manoeuvring in support, is consistent with international military tactics. However, reports that British soldiers are encountering tanks in the city itself represents a departure from the normal conventions of armoured warfare.
The presence of Iraqi tanks in the suburbs of Basra suggests that the Iraqis may be using the predominantly Shia Muslim civilian population as a human shield for their advance.
Last night's apparent revolt inside the city is evidence of what many of those there think of the forces of the regime.
As the invasion of Iraq continues, allied commanders will have become increasingly aware of a willingness on the part of Iraqi commanders to press for strategic advantage at the cost of the civilian population. Saddam's troops appear prepared to sacrifice civilians in Basra to exert pressure on the allied foothold in the south.
This knowledge will inform Gen Franks's tactical approach to the assault on Baghdad. Gen Franks and Centcom will have had to adjust their concept of operations to incorporate an enemy that is prepared to engage in a robust defence, an enemy that ignores the normal conventions of warfare.
Thus, the softly-softly approach that has marked the allied invasion to date, including the bypassing of civilian centres, may be at an end.
As such, the US will continue to consolidate their supply lines and will be forced to assemble a very formidable assault formation for taking Baghdad.
Centcom will also have been forced to reassess the threat posed by regular Iraqi units elsewhere in the country. Despite hopes of a quick surrender, the Iraqi 3rd Army Corps at Nassiriya has offered stiff resistance to the allied advance.
The Iraqi 2nd Army Corps at Najaf and at Kut is demonstrating similar resolve and motivation to fight. The allied intelligence estimate of the battlefield will now include the assessment that Iraqi regular troops are not so demoralised and poorly led as to be ineffective in the field.
This knowledge has probably determined the sudden and dramatic increase in B-52, B-1 and B-2 heavy airstrikes on Iraqi regular troops of the 1st and 5th Army Corps based at Kirkuk and Mosul in the past 24 hours.
Allied commanders will be anxious to neutralise the threat posed by these troops to any US airborne units that might be inserted to the north of Baghdad in the coming days.
Despite the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, Iraq seems poised to resist the current invasion at all costs.
In an increasingly pressurised environment this may lead to the use of chemical and biological weapons in Baghdad by the Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard.
These agents would be used indiscriminately, on advancing allied troops or on a civilian population wavering in its support for a dying regime.
Despite combat experience gained by Iraqi troops in the war with Iran and despite their resolve to fight, they will eventually be defeated by US troops in Baghdad.
As the war reaches its climax, Iraqi civilians will become casualties at the hands of both attacker and defender alike.
Dr Tom Clonan is a retired Army officer with experience in the Middle East and former Yugoslavia. He is a fellow of the US-based Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society. He currently lectures in the School of Media, DIT.