U.N. chief arms inspector Hans Blix and a team of about 30 experts begin their first full day of work in Iraq on Tuesday, preparing the ground for a mission to search for alleged weapons of mass destruction. U.S. President George Bush said he was going to a NATO summit in Prague seeking support for his hard-line policy against Iraq, and for shifting the alliance's mission toward fighting against terrorism.

Bush indicated he would be making no request for NATO military assistance against Iraq at the summit on Thursday and Friday.

If military action were needed, Bush said he would consult again with NATO members "and everybody will be able to make the decision that they're comfortable with."

Bush has repeatedly urged "regime change" in Iraq, meaning Saddam's overthrow, and has vowed to wage war if necessary if Baghdad fails to disarm.

The advance team of U.N. inspectors arrived in Baghdad on Monday to resume monitoring of Iraqi arms after a four-year absence.

Blix and the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, were due to met General Amir al-Saadi, an adviser to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, on Tuesday for the second time in 24 hours.

"The situation is tense at the moment, but there is a new opportunity and we are here to provide inspection which is credible," Blix, 74, said.

Formal inspections are not due to start until November 27. Under the U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on November 8, the first big test is a December 8 deadline for Iraq to submit a full account of all banned weapons programs.

By January 27 the inspectors must have given their first report to the U.N. Security Council.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged Saddam to give "prompt and unfettered access" to sites suspected of having nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. Iraq has denied possessing weapons of mass destruction.

MORE RAIDS

On Monday, Iraq lashed out at Washington as U.S. and British warplanes again raided Iraqi air defenses, rejecting U.S. charges that it had violated a new U.N. resolution by continually trying to shoot down planes patrolling "no-fly" zones.

The so-called "no-fly" zones were set up after the 1991 Gulf War that drove Iraqi invasion forces out of Kuwait.

The official Iraqi News Agency INA quoted an Iraqi military spokesman as saying U.S. and British warplanes had attacked "civilian" targets in Nineveh province, 396 km (247 miles) north of Baghdad. There were no reports of casualties.

Iraq said that allegations of a violation after more than 10 years of such tit-for-tat exchanges in the zones showed Washington was using the text of this month's U.N. resolution to justify aggression.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Iraqi official (R) welcomes Chief United Nations (news - web sites) weapons inspector Hans Blix (C) and Mohamed ElBaradei (2nd L) director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on their arrival at Saddam International airport in Baghdad November 18, 2002. A team of about 30 inspectors arrived in Iraq to re-launch a search for weapons of mass destruction. (Faleh Kheiber/Reuters)