HIGHLIGHTS In one Month of Intrusive Inspections, UN Inspectors Find No Evidence of Biological, Chemical or Nuclear Weapons|| Iraq to Submit Within Days a List of Hundreds of Scientists Who Had Worked in its Previous Weapons Programs|| Inspections Continue Despite Seasonal Holidays|| UN Inspectors' Next Report to UN on Jan 7, 2002; Final Report Due by Jan 27, 2002|| Iraq & Arab League Reject Sharon's Allegations That Syria Might Be Hiding Iraq's Banned Weapons & Demand Israel Be Inspected By UN Experts for WMD|| STORYIraq said on Thursday it had boosted food rations to let citizens stock up before a possible war with the United States, and accused U.S. and British planes of bombing civilian targets, including a mosque.

Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh told reporters that supplies distributed so far should ensure everyone had enough to last three months.

"And we are going to increase the quantity in the coming months so that everybody is secured in this regard," he said.
The Iraqi military said U.S. and British warplanes killed three people and wounded 16 when they bombed civilian targets, including a mosque, in southern Iraq.

In Washington, the U.S. military said the planes attacked military command and control facilities after Iraqi aircraft violated a southern "no-fly" zone.

Iraq also said U.N. arms experts had found no evidence of banned biological, chemical or nuclear weapons in one month of intrusive inspections across the country.

Hussam Mohammad Amin, chief of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate in charge of working with U.N. experts, said Iraq would submit "in the next two days or three" a list of hundreds of scientists who had worked in its previous weapons programs.

"The (U.N.) inspections teams have not found any direct or indirect evidence to prove the credibility of the false claims of the American and British administrations that Iraq is involved in banned programs or stores banned weapons on its territories," he said.

MORE U.N. INSPECTIONS

U.N. inspectors had no comment on Amin's statements. On Thursday, they checked at least five sites for banned weapons.

A U.N. spokesman said an IAEA team inspected Tho al-Fekar factory 25 miles north of Baghdad and an unidentified private trading company that represents companies outside Iraq. A U.N. missile team looked at a facility run by the Military Industrialization Commission -- Al Rasheed headquarters -- some 38 miles southwest of Baghdad. A biological team inspected Baghdad's Food Examination and Analysis Laboratory and a chemical team inspected the Mussayib Pharmaceutical Complex, 45 miles south of Baghdad.

Their next report to the U.N. Security Council is due on January 9 and they have not taken a break for a Christmas season marked by appeals for peace from Christian religious leaders.

With their mission in its fifth week, the inspectors have completed more than 170 missions, visiting many sites more than once, but have not reported any suspicious findings. They have also begun interviewing Iraqi scientists.

Pressure for rapid and aggressive inspections has come from the United States, which has threatened to go to war if Iraq cannot prove it has scrapped all its banned weapons programs, as required by U.N. resolutions.

The U.N. inspectors' final report is due by January 27. With Iraq insisting it no longer has the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction, speculation is growing the report could be a trigger for war.

U.N. TRADE SANCTIONS

Iraq, with the world's second largest oil reserves, has been struggling under U.N. trade sanctions since its short-lived occupation of neighboring Kuwait in 1990.

U.S. officials said on Thursday the U.N. Security Council was likely to approve a resolution soon expanding the list of civilian goods that Baghdad cannot import without prior council approval.

The U.N. review of items on the 300-page list is intended to determine if the goods have possible military applications.

SHARON'S ALLEGATIONS THAT SYRIA MIGHT BE HIDING IRAQI BANNED WEAPONS

Iraq and the Arab League on Thursday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's comments this week that Syria might be hiding Iraqi chemical and biological weapons.

"This is absolute lies," Amin said. "Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction. These allegations are linked to internal political events inside the Zionist entity...related to the elections."

Arab League head Amr Moussa also dismissed the allegation as ridiculous.

"Before we talk about any other country, Israel should be inspected," he told reporters in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

"The whole region needs inspections, and primarily Israel, which has weapons of mass destruction," -- a reference to the 300 nuclear warheads that Israel is widely believed to have.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Iraqi family receives their monthly food ration in Baghdad December 26, 2002. The government is increasing food rations to allow Iraqis to stock up on food ahead of any possible war with the United States. (Akram Salah/Reut