CRISIS IN THE PERSIAN GULF : GULF WATCH: Day 52 : A daily briefing paper on developments in the crisis : Diplomatic Front:

The last U.S.-chartered airlift of American citizens fleeing Iraq and Kuwait left Baghdad en route to London. The Americans, mostly women and children, were scheduled to arrive in North Carolina today, ending an airborne evacuation that has brought more than 2,000 people back to the United States.

In another round of diplomatic roulette, Saudi Arabia expelled Jordanian and Yemeni diplomats because of their nations’ support for Iraq.

In a televised interview billed as an “open letter” to American citizens, King Hussein of Jordan called for a negotiated solution to the Middle East crisis that would allow the United States and its allies to withdraw their troops from Saudi Arabia.

Military Front:

Ships bearing the first contingents of 15,000 Egyptian soldiers on their way to Saudi Arabia arrived at the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The Egyptians will reinforce the multinational defense force arrayed against Iraq.

Egypt had previously dispatched 5,000 troops to the gulf.

A second American hospital ship, the Mercy, has reached the Arabian Sea and will join its sister ship, the Comfort, by Wednesday, the Navy said.

Trade Front:

Members of the seven major industrial nations met in Washington to devise a coordinated plan for softening the blow of the Persian Gulf crisis on the world economy. The Group of Seven advocated financial assistance to nations hard hit by higher oil prices.

Crisis Indicators:

(All figures estimates)

Total U.S. citizens evacuated by

airlift: 2,000

Americans who fled Iraq and Kuwait

by land: 500

U.S. citizens remaining in Iraq and

Kuwait: 1,100

American men held hostage in

Iraq: 100

Total foreign nationals barred

from leaving: 4,100