Baghdad International Airport ? U.S. forces seized Saddam International Airport on Friday after an all-night tank and infantry assault, promptly renamed it and then began searching the tunnels underneath for any Iraqi soldiers who might be hiding.

“We don’t know who we’ll find there, ” said U.S. Central Command spokesman Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks. “There may in fact may be someone to fight in those underground facilities.”

Brooks called the airport “the gateway to the future of Iraq.” Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahhaf, meanwhile, said the airport would become a “graveyard” for coalition forces.

For the U.S.-led forces on Baghdad’s doorstep, the airport is a base for bringing in weapons and troops and channeling aid to the Iraqi people.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein liked the first-class air hub, complete with its duty-free shops, so much that he named it after himself.

But on Friday, tanks of the 3rd Infantry Division rumbled through its entrance, past a tall portrait of the saluting Iraqi president. They promptly renamed it Baghdad International Airport.

The airport’s capture prevents Iraq’s leaders from fleeing by air, and the facility could be used now or in the future by coalition forces.

“Hopefully this is a sign that we’re able to send to the residents of Baghdad that we’re here and they can rise up and deal with the regime appropriately and save some future battle inside the city,” said Lt. Col. Scott Rutter, whose infantry battalion helped secure the airport.

American strategists prize the airport’s main runway because at 13,000 feet, it is long enough to land the military’s largest transport planes as well as civilian jumbo jets.

It also has a second 8,000-foot runway, once used by Iraqi fighter jets, that could help speed the import of supplies.

A U.S. soldier is seen through a bullet hole in a pane of glass on a hangar door at Saddam International Airport in Iraq. U.S. troops secured the airport Friday after battling Iraqi forces. The capture of the airport outside Baghdad prevents Iraq's leaders from fleeing by air, and the facility could be used now or in the future by coalition forces.

The airport’s chief appeal is its proximity to the Iraqi capital. It is about 10 miles from the heart of Baghdad and is adjacent to the Radwaniyah presidential site, which served as Saddam’s main residence.

The 101st Airborne Division began moving north Friday, planning to base its helicopters at the airport to conduct raids around Baghdad. The 101st is highly trained in urban warfare.

“We’re fighting in urban terrain now and to be effective in this terrain you need light infantry forces,” said Col. John Peabody, engineer brigade commander for the 3rd Infantry Division.

Flying in troops, armor and humanitarian aid to the Baghdad airport will shave off hours, if not days, from trucking supplies north from other air bases farther south.

“This is a very large area immediately adjacent to Baghdad that you can just sort of move into, and American forces could congregate and regroup and gather themselves together and stage from,” said John Pike, a military analyst with GlobalSecurity.org.