D'Iberville had only 70 men, the rest were dispersed in local skirmishes, holding villages and prisoners.

Now, their backyard is a frontier for a local skirmish in one of the basic urban battles of the 90's.

It also notes that collective security has the potential to draw otherwise uninterested parties into what could have limited to a local skirmish.

But it has already encountered local skirmishes over related issues.

Land-based military actions were limited to raids and local skirmishes.

In the next 16 months, the front was relatively quiet apart from local skirmishes.

Make no mistake, this is no local skirmish, no battle for a small peninsula.

The strength of the participating forces leads us to suspect that this is no ordinary local skirmish.

Still, he said, no local political skirmish will ultimately answer the broad issue.

Each side predicted many suits and local skirmishes to sort through the tension between the two decisions.