THERE is nothing enchanting or romantic about the desert in the south of Iraq. There are no rolling dunes of rich ochre sand, no Bedouin tribesmen camped in white tents that are flapping in a sultry breeze.

In fact, as you leave Basra, the potholed roads are lined with rubbish, driven out to the edge of the city by the locals and dumped to rot in the searing heat.

But such is the deep poverty which still exists in a region persecuted by Saddam Hussein's regime that there are some who scrape a living among the detritus.

The children stop to wave or shout a greeting as the Army Land Rovers go by but, while so many are reduced to scavenging for whatever they can find to earn a few dollars, it is easy to understand why smuggling and looting are rife among the locals.

Out in the desert, toppled pylons lie on their sides like crippled giants, blasted by explosives or simply torn down by heavy trucks equipped with chains, allowing looters to get at the valuable copper wires, for which there is a ready market across the border in Iran.

Patrolling a region the size of Northern Ireland is 40 Regiment, Royal Artillery, usually based at Alanbrooke Barracks, on the edge of Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

Normally, it is the infantry which would be given the task, but the artillery come as part of a battle group and, while their big guns are silent, they can just as easily be called into service in another role.

Captain Nick Constable said: "We would have to admit things are pretty tough at the moment.

"After last week's riots, Iraqi leaders persuaded the people they should give us until next Wednesday to try to improve the flow of oil and water and restore power.

"We have been working flat out in temperatures of over 60C to try to meet that deadline.

"The engineers have been replacing some of the pylons and our patrols are designed to deter the looters from pulling down any more or from dealing in fuel on the black market, but we have to accept it is a vast area and we cannot be everywhere at once."

If they want to avoid another flashpoint, the soldiers still have to try, and patrols leave Al Zubayr and other camps based at small settlements across the southern desert several times a day.

Some are done on foot, the soldiers spaced well apart and alert, adopting the same patterns learned in Northern Ireland.

Others are done by helicopter, allowing the troops to pounce quickly from the sky, while the regiment also has fast-moving boats at its disposal to patrol the lower reaches of the Shat Al Arab waterway.

And they have had some significant successes. The queues at the petrol stations in Basra are shorter now that fewer tankers are being hijacked on the journey from the refineries near the southern coast.

However, there have also been some attacks by rogue bandits, including groups armed with rocket-propelled grenades (RPG).

Durham's Graeme Johnson, of the Light Dragoons, said: "We were out on patrol when I heard a huge explosion and turned round to see the Land Rover following us obscured by smoke and dust.

"Luckily the driver managed to keep it going and we cleared the area as quickly as we could. None of the lads had anything worse than a few cuts and bruises."

Army bases are not immune either. Another RPG flew over the camp at Al Zubayr recently.

Lance Bombadier Stan Foster, from Sunderland, said: "It can be a worry but, because their aim is usually rubbish, they do not manage to do anything other than annoy everyone."

Just back from a week's leave in Al Zubayr, Gunner John Ritchie, 21, probably spoke for many soldiers when he said it was difficult to describe serving in Iraq to family and friends.

He said: "It is hard to put into words what it is like over here. "Having leave was fantastic but, in a way, you miss your mates from the Army because at least they know what you have to deal with every day."