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The first surrenders came as US soldiers, their faces blasted with sand and their eyes on the clock, crept closer to the border with the hours ticking down on a US ultimatum for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to quit his country.
The 15 Iraqis were handed over to Kuwaiti police after laying down their arms and giving up, said Captain Darrin Theriault, headquarters company commander of the First Brigade of the US Army's Third Infantry Division.
They turned themselves in at about 6:00 pm (1500 GMT), 10 hours before the deadline set by US President George W. Bush for Saddam to clear out of Iraq or face a massive attack.
"We anticipate more (surrenders) as this continues to develop," Theriault told AFP. He stressed that the Kuwaiti police had custody of the Iraqi soldiers and "no enemy prisoners of war are under US control."
Some 280,000 US and British troops, including 174,000 in Kuwait, are readying an invasion after Saddam rejected the US warning in a row over his suspected chemical and biological arsenals.
Shrugging off the second severe sandstorm in a week, several hundred US army vehicles assembled near the frontier Wednesday, a day after about 1,000 marine tanks, armored personnel carriers and trucks were seen on the move.
"All elements of the US armed forces are currently repositioning close to the Iraq border," said Colonel Will Grimsley, commander of the Third Infantry Division's First Brigade.
US officials dismissed reports they had already taken over the de-militarized zone set up five kilometers (three miles) into Kuwait and 10 kilometers (six miles) into Iraq after the first Gulf War in 1991.
"We have no information on that report," said a spokesman at the US Central Command (CENTCOM) in Qatar.
A severe dust storm blanketed Kuwait on Wednesday, cutting visibility down to 500 meters (yards) and less in the desert, weather officials said. Clear conditions were expected from Thursday onwards.
Recurrent dust storms have been hard on the 174,000 US and British soldiers deployed along Kuwait's northern border to back up US threats to use force if necessary to rid Saddam of suspected biological and chemical arsenals.
Many have complained of having to repeatedly clear the dust from their gun barrels and sweep out their sleeping quarters. Sandstorms last week caused heavy swells in Kuwaiti ports and delays in unloading military hardware.
Larry Wiseman, with the Tank, Automative and Armament Command of the Third Infantry Division, said the weather had not be too constraining but conceded it created some difficult moments in driving.
"Two days ago, you couldn't see the front of the truck," he said.
But US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Larry Cox said poor visibility from sand storms would not affect operational capability.
"If called upon, we can execute a mission in all kinds of weather ... even dust storms. We are better equipped and better trained to deal (with any weather) than any adversary we may come up against," Cox said.
Virtually all ground units from the army infantry to the marines to the vaunted 101st Airborne Division were putting the final touches to their equipment and plans ahead of the imminent invasion.
Colonel Grimsley said his command had gone to full body armor and issued small arms, ammunition and grenades to the troops. Artillery crews stocked up on shells.
US Lieutenant General David McKiernan, commander of the US and British land forces, said one of their biggest fears was still the possibility that the Iraqis may use chemical or biological weapons.
Whle Washington has warned Baghdad's officer corps sternly against using weapons of mass destruction. US commanders were also intent on encouraging as many as possible to lay down their arms and surrender.
McKiernan said in an interview with a small group of reporters, including AFP, that the Iraqis would have a "big role" in their own security after Saddam was ousted.
"I think it's a policy that all the coalition has endorsed that we are very interested in a viable Iraq regaining control of its affairs," he said.
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