The Defense Ministry has finalized its plan on the dispatch of non-combat troops to Iraq. The ministry will send an advance contingent comprised of twenty staff officers on Thursday and the first squad of three hundred on April 30th. The second squad which will carry equipment will leave for Iraq some time around mid-May. A senior ministry official said the troops will likely be stationed in one of the three regions of Basra, Nasiriyah and Umm Qasr.