BAIT-UL-MOQADDAS - The United States will launch an attack on Iraq in May, Israeli defense experts predicted Sunday, after U.S. President George W. Bush branded Iraq, Iran and North Korea an "axis of evil."

The military experts, who were not identified, told the Zionist daily *** Yediot Aharonot *** that the Pentagon has received the green light to start preparations for an offensive against Iraq as the second phase of Washington's global war on terror after Afghanistan, AFP reported.

The Israelis said the Americans had already started mustering the necessary troops and were coordinating with the Iraqi opposition.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin ben Eliezer, who is due in Washington this week, is to ask the U.S. administration to coordinate its offensive with the Israeli leadership, the paper said.

During the 1991 Persian Gulf war when a U.S.-led coalition forced Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's troops out of Kuwait, Israel was hit by 39 Iraqi scud missiles which killed two people and injured hundreds.

*** Yediot *** added that according to Ben Eliezer, the United States will not ask israel to show restraint in case of it being attacked by Iraq.

Bush sparked outrage in the Middle East last week when he charged Iran, North Korea and Iraq were proliferating weapons of mass destruction and represented a danger to world peace, adding that "all options are on the table" in making "the United States and our allies more secure."