WASHINGTON, 1 April 2003 — US and British airstrikes have caused “a very significant weakening” of Iraqi forces, and Iraqi commanders are moving Republican Guard troops around to shore up their strength, the Defense Department said yesterday.

During a briefing with reporters, Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said 3,000 precision-guided bombs were dropped on Iraqi forces over the weekend, more than a third of the total number dropped since the war began.

The bombings have caused “a very significant weakening of the forces,” McChrystal said. “We are seeing some movement of Republican Guard formations as well. ... What we think we’re seeing them do is move to reinforce other (units) that have already been severely degraded.”

US and British aircraft flew about 1,000 missions over Iraq on Sunday, McChrystal said, most of them targeting specific Republican Guard divisions, as well as command and control facilities. The 3,000 bombs dropped over the weekend raised to 8,000 the total number of bombs used since the war began March 20, he said.

Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said US officials have seen evidence that members of President Saddam Hussein’s family, and the families of senior Iraqi officials, have tried to flee the country. When pressed for details she would not elaborate.

“We have seen some reports recently, and I’ll leave it at that,” she said.

In what could be a prelude to the battle for the Iraqi capital, American forces are doing what one senior Pentagon official called “aggressive armed reconnaissance” in a number of areas rimming the southern approaches to Baghdad.

A number of units have been sent on probing missions forward of fighting positions to assess Iraqi troop strength and cut Iraqi forces off where they can, two Defense Department officials said.

Officials discussed this only on condition of anonymity.

A week of heavy bombing has left some of Iraq’s Republican Guard units surrounding Baghdad at less than half strength, with the Medina and Baghdad divisions the most severely degraded, Pentagon officials said.

The military also was tracking five Guard brigades, including two infantry, seen on the move last week.

It was not exactly clear how they were repositioning themselves, though some Iraqis captured south of Baghdad were reported wearing the arm patches of the Nebuchadnezzar Division, which was supposed to have been guarding cities in the north.

This has led defense officials to believe reinforcements have been sent from the north to bolster the degraded southern Guard units. Officials said other Iraqi units have been seen pulling back, closer to Baghdad.

Intense bombing continued yesterday. Over the weekend, Pentagon officials said that US troops were prepared for a major attack against Saddam’s Guard forces, but the heaviest attack may have to await pressure to build on the Iraqi leader.

“Their fighting capability is going down minute by minute, hour by hour. There’s not going to be much left to fight with,” Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday. “We have the power to be patient in this, and we’re not going to do anything before we’re ready,” he said. “We’ll just continue to draw the noose tighter and tighter.”

Meanwhie, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in Geneva yesterday that it had begun visiting a group of Iraqi prisoners of war captured by US/UK forces for the first time since the war began.

The ICRC said talks with Iraqi authorities about access to any US or British prisoners of war were continuing.