Hussein’s Forces Massing for Attack, Kurds Report : Iraq: The insurgents in the north claim gains but say Scud missiles and troops are being mobilized.

Kurdish rebels on Wednesday claimed they have seized a government-held air base and camp in northern Iraq but said there are signs that Saddam Hussein’s forces are preparing for an assault on a key rebel-held city.

A statement from the Kurdistan Democratic Party said the Iraqi army is massing forces in the president’s hometown of Tikrit to launch an attack on Kirkuk, a northern oil city seized by the insurgents.

The group said Hussein has moved in 11 Scud missile launchers and is trying to mobilize 16 divisions, between 150,000 and 200,000 troops. Some were reportedly ordered north from southern Iraq, where Baghdad says it has contained a Shiite Muslim rebellion.

The statement, issued in London, could not be independently confirmed.

Hussein has been struggling to quell rebellions in the north and south that flared after his defeat by the allies in the Persian Gulf War.

President Bush said Wednesday that it is unlikely that Hussein will remain in power for long because the Iraqi people “are fed up with him.”

“We’ll wait and see how it plays out,” Bush told reporters in Bethesda, Md., “but I think we’d have to put him down as fairly doubtful at this point.”

Kurdish leaders reporting gains in northern Iraq also told of heavy casualties. They said guerrillas overran an Iraqi air base near Kirkuk on Tuesday and captured two Soviet-made warplanes--a MIG-21 fighter and a Sukhoi bomber.

The rebels also said they seized a government camp 35 miles south of Zakhu on the road from Dihok to Mosul. They said the two installations were among the last that government forces controlled in northern Iraq.

Rebels also reported that they were intensifying attacks on Mosul, believed to be the government’s last major northern stronghold.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party, in its statement, said more than 1,000 people were killed in the last week in air attacks on the northern cities of Kirkuk, Kifri, Dihok, Kalar and Tuz Khurmatu.

In another statement, issued in Damascus, Syria, a Shiite opposition leader said that two Iraqi warplanes attacked rebel positions in southern Iraq and that many people were killed and wounded.

“Two MIG-23 warplanes attacked areas controlled by the rebels in Karbala governorate today, killing and wounding many people,” the Ayatollah Taki Mudarresi said.

There was no independent confirmation of the report, which if true would constitute a violation of the provisional Gulf War cease-fire agreement between Iraq and the United States.

Elsewhere in the south, in the border town of Safwan, food riots broke out Wednesday for the fourth straight day as Saudi Arabian food trucks arrived.

“We tried to be organized, but the people are just too hungry,” said Saudi Maj. Youssef Ali Albouri. “They see the food and they go crazy.” No serious injuries were reported.

In other Gulf developments:

* Saudi Lt. Gen. Prince Khalid ibn Sultan, commander of the war’s Joint Arab Forces, said that Iraq’s crackdown on internal unrest is tragic but that the allies should not intervene. He also told reporters in Riyadh, the capital, that his nation will not be the host for a proposed forward headquarters of the U.S. Central Command; he suggested Bahrain as a possible site.

* Tensions grew between Tehran and Baghdad as Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Kamal Kharrazi, rejected Iraqi claims that Iranian soldiers had crossed the border and fired on Iraqi soldiers, allegedly in support of the Shiite rebels.

* In Iraq, President Hussein swore in a new Cabinet, telling the ministers they have six months to prove themselves in their posts.

U.S. FORCES IN THE GULF

411,500 U.S. troops remain in the Gulf. Another 128,500 members from all services have left. A breakdown:

NAVY: 42,000 of the 85,000 sailors have left. Two of six aircraft carrier groups--the John F. Kennedy and the Saratoga--are returning this week; more than 18,000 sailors on 16 ships and 16 aircraft squadrons will return. Three aircraft carriers remain--the Ranger, the Roosevelt and the America, among a total of 51 ships in the Gulf, 22 ships in the Red Sea and 13 ships in the Mediterranean.

ARMY: 28,000 soldiers have left, leaving 277,000 in place. The Army controls about 15% of Iraq. Army forces have been shifting position to begin sending home lighter-armored units.

AIR FORCE: 25,000 Air Force personnel have left, leaving 31,000. AWACS surveillance continues and Iraqi aircraft have been downed since the cease-fire.

MARINES: 33,500 Marines have left and 60,500 remain.

IRAQI POWS: Troops continue to accept surrender of Iraqi soldiers, a reported 900 in the past few days. 28,263 Iraqi prisoners are in U.S. custody; 23,084 have been turned over to Saudi Arabian forces.