Two Iraqi Planes Downed Over Saudi Arabian Skies

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia--Iraq's elusive air force showed signs of life yesterday, sending two warplanes over Saudi territory where they were shot down carrying missiles capable of sinking allied warships.

Iraq mocked the allies for failing to launch a ground offensive, but allied commanders said they would stick to their game plan and intensify the around-the-clock air strikes on Iraq and occupied Kuwait

The United States and Britain each lost a warplane during the night Wednesday. The American pilot was saved in a dramatic rescue after his jet was disabled by ground fire and he ejected over the Persian Gulf.

The two crew members of the British Tornado GR-1 fighter-bomber are missing, British sources in Riyadh said.

The losses occurred as allied forces took advantage of clearing skies to step up their relentless air assault on Iraq and Kuwait. Many of the attacks concentrated on Iraq's elite Republican Guards, an army spokesperson said.

"We are hitting them with all assets available to us," U.S. Army Lt. Col. Greg Pepin said of the elite Iraqi unit. He estimated that more than 150,000 of the guards are "well dug in" in Kuwait and southern Iraq.

The allied tactics call for "softening up" the Iraqi forces from the air before trying to eject them from Kuwait by ground.

The number of allied sorties passed 15,000 on Thursday, Pepin said Allied sources in Dhahran said the U.S.-led coalition wants to pick up the pace, perhaps flying 3000 missions a day if the skies remain clear.

In addition, pentagon sources said yesterday that U.S. submarines, operating from the depths of the Mediterranean and red seas, are continuing to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets inside Iraq.

Gen. Colin Powell, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday in Washington that air attacks would intensify along supply routes and lines of communications around the Iraqi city of Basra, near the Persian Gulf and Kuwait border, in attempt to strangle the Iraqi army in Kuwait.

Despite the crushing allied air assault, Saddam Hussein reportedly visited his troops on the front lines in southern Iraq and Kuwait on Wednesday.

The official Iraqi News Agency said Saddam's commanders discussed the latest developments in the war with their commander-in-chief, then mocked the allies, saying they fear a ground war.

"The commanders said that because of his [the enemy's] cowardice and fear of combat with the land forces, the enemy tried to avoid establishing any serious contact... and preoccupied itself, for the benefit of public opinion, with bombing from high altitudes," the news agency said.

It quoted Saddam as saying the battle would be decided by Iraq's superior will power and patience. "It is only a matter of time before the enemy becomes convinced it has done all it can and that the Iraqis are determined to confront it and triumph over it," he was quoted as saying.

The news agency said that as of Tuesday, "Only 90" Iraqi troops had been killed by the punishing allied bombing of Iraq and Kuwait. The allies have not released casualty figures from the aerial bombardment.