Iraq retaliates
Scud medium range, surface-to-surface missiles launched by Iraq at Israel and Saudi Arabia
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All eyes turn toward Israel
by Associated Press and
Canadian Press
The U.S.-led multinational force punished Iraq with more air strikes today, but all eyes were on Israel and the vengeance it might exact for missiles that struck its coastal heartland.
Eight Israeli planes flew over southern Lebanon today and headed east towards Iraq and Syria, Agence France-Presse reported.
If Israel enters the Persian Gulf war, it could splinter the anti-Iraq coalition and widen the conflict.
“Let the United States hear the wailing of its daughter implanted in the heart of the Arab homeland,” said Iraqi radio, claiming that the missiles had “pounded political, economic and scientific targets” in Israel.
Israeli officials said 12 people suffered minor injuries in the strikes on residential neighborhoods of Haifa and Tel Aviv. Regardless of the toll, Israel’s army chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Dan Shom-ron, said Israel must hit back.
An attack on Israeli civilians is very serious and “obliges a response,” he said.
Eight missiles were apparently aimed at Israel and five struck. In Tel Aviv, where houses and cars were wrecked by a missile, a resident described a “ball of fire” falling from the sky.
Jordan, fearing retaliation by the Jewish state, went on its highest alert since the 1967 war, a senior Jordanian militar official said today. Jordan, which lies between Israel and Iraq, has said it would defend its airspace against Israeli planes.
President George Bush said he was outraged by the attack and his spokesman promised Iraq would be punished.
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney called the Iraqi offensive “evil” and said it may bring a change in Canada’s role in the gulf conflict, which up to now has seen the country’s contingent of 1,850 soldiers in non-offensive roles or helping enforce a UN embargo against Iraq. Mulroney, who met with the crisis committee of cabinet in Ottawa late Thursday, did not elaborate.
As Operation Desert Storm thundered into its second full day today, waves of U.S. warplanes took off from desert bases in Saudi Arabia. On Thursday, multinational forces flew more than 1,300 air missions, pounding targets three and sometimes four times.
* “The next couple of days there are going to be intense air opera-
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One of the Scud missiles fired by Iraq hit these homes In Tel Aviv, Israel.
tions,” Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams said Thursday night.
Western reports say seven planes have been lost, including three from the United States, although Iraq says it shot down 65.
U.S. military officials said Iraq fired a single missile toward allied forces in Saudi Arabia early today. But the missile was intercepted and destroyed by a Patriot missile, the first fired in combat.
Baghdad Radio, in an early-moming broadcast, played patriotic songs praising Saddam as “the great leader,” and Baghdad as “the capital of dignity.”
The unprecedented allied attack was launched 5 Vi months after Iraq seized Kuwait in a dispute over land, oil and money. Economic sanctions and diplomatic appeals failed to dislodge Iraq by midnight Tuesday, the United Na-tions-mandated deadline, and the massive military strike came less than 24 hours later.
In Israel, the missile attack took its toll in terror; Israelis were ordered into shelters and told to don gas masks for protection
against any Iraqi chemical weapons. However, an army official said none of the missiles carried chemical warheads.
Israel said the Iraqi missiles were likely of the al-Hussein type,
Sylvie Caron -• (CP)
an Iraqi version of the Soviet-supplied SS-1 Scud-B missiles. It was the first time Tel Aviv or other major population centres had come under bombardment since 1973.
Hoping to head off retaliation,
the United States sought to assure Israel that Iraq would be punished. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Thursday night that “coalition forces in the gulf are attacking missile sites and other targets in Iraq.”
If Israel entered the war, the move could tempt Arab countries to desert the allied coalition in favor of a holy war against the Jewish stale, U.S. officials fear.
In Washington, Bush condemned the attack on Israel, and State Secretary James Baker quickly phoned the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria.
Baker also telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, and the White House said he “assured the prime minister that the United States is continuing its efforts to eliminate this threat. ’’
In Ottawa, the prime minister said Thursday he conveyed his sympathy to the Israeli government and the shaken Canadian Jewish community.
“The unprovoked attack on Israel this evening constitutes. . .a
very evil act by a very diabolical man,” Mulroney said.
The government had taken diplomatic action against Iraq earlier by expelling three of the seven Iraqi diplomats in Ottawa.
The Commons considers today changing Canada’s role in the gulf war.
Earlier Thursday, Gen. John de Chastelain said Canadian CF-18s based in Qatar could begin taking up escort and sweeping missions for allied bombers over Kuwait and Iraq.
As sweepers and escorts, the CF-18s would basically protect
MORE STORIES, PHOTOS PAGES 5, 8, 9, 22
and clear a path for bombing formations on their way to a target — a radical shift from their defensive mission before the shooting began.
It would be the first combat for Canadians since the Korean War of 1950-53.
In Operation Desert Storm, officials said seven planes — three American, two British, one Kuwaiti and one Italian — have been lost. An Iraqi military communique read over Baghdad Radio today claimed 65 allied planes have been shot down.
In Turkey, U.S warplanes took off from the Incirlik strategic air-base in southern Turkey early today, but the Foreign Ministry said they were only on a night training mission.
The allied strike against Iraq has made use of the entire American air armada. The range of weaponry runs from air force F-15 interceptors and F-lll bombers, to Marine AV-8 Harrier “jump jets,” to strategic B-52Gs.
While air attacks have so far dominated allied strategy, Defence Secretary Dick Cheney said “that does not mean that we will not at some point engage ground forces as well.”
In Saudi Arabia, allied ground forces were moving into final positions to be ready for immediate deployment when the joint command decides Iraqi resistance has been softened enough by the air strikes, pool reporters said today.
The pool reporters, whose dispatches are reviewed by the U.S. military, also said the 1st Marine Division came close to ground combat Thursday near the abandoned town of Khafji just inside of the Kuwait border.
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Greater role hinted for Canadian forces
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REVENGE FOR IRAQI MISSILE ATTACK?
of the seven diplomats at the Iraqi embassy in Ottawa.
The prime minister said he contacted the Israeli prime minister and Jewish leaders across Canada to convey “our shock and our horror and our revulsion at such an unprovoked attack.”
And External Affairs Minister Joe Clark said he urged Israel’s ambassador to Canada to resist the "understandable temptation” to retaliate.
“I think Saddam Hussein’s hope was that he would split the alliance and I think he will fail,” Clark said, describing the attack as an attempt to draw Israel into the war and, thus, alienate Arab nations in the coalition.
And Clark predicted the Iraqi at-
tack may increase public support for Canada’s role in the war.
“I think there may well be more support among people who had forgotten about (Saddam’s) brutality and had seen this in simple terms of war or not war.”
But NDP Leader Audrey McLaughlin said the attack on Israel doesn’t convince her of the need for war.
"Nobody ever felt Saddam Hussein would ever have felt restrained from attacking Israel — just the opposite,” she said. “This is exactly what he would do and that is exactly why we had to look with great restraint in launching on an offensive war in the Middle East without having exhausted all alternatives.”
Both McLaughlin and Liberal Leader Jean Chretien expressed sympathy for Israel and praised the Jewish nation for not retaliating.
“They have shown a lot of restraint and a lot of calm and it’s to their credit,” said Chretien, who refused to offer any advice as to what further steps, if any, Canada should take.
Canada’s Jewish community, meanwhile, was devastated by news of the attack.
“We are shocked. We are devastated,” said Simon Kahn a spokesman for the Canada-Israel Committee in Ottawa. “We cannot believe this happened even though we knew it was a possibility.”
Saddam’s family in Africa?
LONDON (AP) — Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has sent his family and senior government officials to Mauritania in western Africa, the BBC reported today.
However, an Iraqi Embassy spokesman in Mauritania said:
“We have no information that would tend to confirm that.”
The BBC report, which cited western diplomatic sources, said two Iraqi Airways planes landed in Mauritania on Wednesday, followed the next day by a pair of Iraqi military aircraft
The U.S.-led multinational force has launched a fierce bombing campaign aimed at driving Iraq from Kuwait.
The assault has taken a heavy toll on government and military targets in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, U.S. officials say.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 18,1991 <^> 70CENTS
Low tonight: -12 High tomorrow: -3
tacks Wednesday to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
“If anybody needed any reason why it had to be done, they’ve had it tonight. This is the message we were trying to convey, that (Saddam) will do anything, even an unjustified attack on innocent Israeli citizens.”
Asked if the attack could lead to a change in the role or number of Canadian troops in the Gulf, Mulroney said: "Maybe.”
Any decision on further involvement will be announced when appropriate, he added.
Mulroney, who called the attack “an very evil act by a very diabolical man,” suggested it will lead to stepped up action by the coalition.
Saddam’s “attack against Israel tonight is not one that has gone unnoticed by the members of the coalition.. .This unprovoked attack against Israel must be repudiated.” The war cabinet reviewed the latest intelligence information on the attack and will meet again this morning.
Mulroney said cabinet is reviewing the status of the remaining Iraqi diplomats in Canada. Earlier Thursday, Canada expelled three
by Southam News OTTAWA — Iraq’s attack on Israel may lead to increased Canadian military involvement in the Persian Gulf war, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said Thursday night.
“This was the act of a criminal and it indicates why (Iraqi Presi-
dent) Saddam Hussein must be dealt with by the world community,” Mulroney told reporters following an emergency meeting of his war cabinet.
Mulroney said the missile attack justifies Canada’s decision to join the U.S .-led multinational coalition, which started massive air at-
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