British forces besieging Basra have dropped leaflets over the city in a bid to win over the hearts and minds of the population.

The leaflets, written in Arabic, tacitly acknowledge the mistakes committed in 1991 when an earlier US-led coalition exhorted Iraqis to "rise up" and abandoned them later.

The 1991 slaughter of the Iraqis, allegedly at the hands of the regime, is one of the more shameful episodes of modern Western military history and goes a long way in explaining why they have not rushed out to embrace the so-called liberators.

"This time we will not abandon you," the leaflets say.

Written around a smiling soldier shaking hands with an Iraqi, the leaflet adds, "Be patient, together we will win."

After two weeks of fighting, which finally gave British forces possession of the port city of Umm Qasr, resistance continues in Basra where the UK forces have deployed their Challenger 2 tanks to weed out the Iraqi paramilitary forces.

Gaining control of Basra has become a strategic aim for the allies as US troops move within striking distance of Baghdad.

According to some reports, US forces, advancing in a two-pronged formation, are within 20 miles of the Iraqi capital after an intense day of fighting, which reportedly resulted in the destruction of two divisions of the Republican Guard.

But senior military officers remain cautious about the prospects of an advance into Baghdad following warnings that the regime could unleash chemical weapons at the gates of the city.

rediff.com Senior Editor Shyam Bhatia is the co-author of Saddam's Bomb, on Iraq's search for nuclear weapons.