Onslaught of War Catches the Arab Nations by Surprise : Mideast: Egypt reportedly heard news on American TV. Only Saudis seem to have been fully informed.

The opening of the war that many Arab leaders feel will drastically change the political and cultural nature of the Middle East caught much of the Arab world by surprise, with many officials in the region saying they had no advance notice of today’s attack against Iraqi and Kuwaiti targets.

In spite of a White House claim that President Bush had informed all Arab governments allied with the United States in the anti-Iraqi campaign, only Saudi Arabia, which officially shares the military command with the United States, seems to have been fully informed.

In fact, one ranking Egyptian aide to President Hosni Mubarak said he first learned of the opening attack on cable television from the United States.

As word spread through the region, the area was reported quiet in spite of predictions that such an attack would spark massive popular reactions against the American-led allies, particularly the pro-Western Arab governments.

There were no reports of any early Iraqi retaliation against the Arab states allied with the United States although many governments immediately went on a war footing.

With the attack beginning in the early hours, there was little diplomatic reaction to the allied action from area capitals. A spokesman in Amman said Jordan “had been taken by surprise. . . . We had been led to believe by the State Department that Iraq would be given more time.”

In Egypt, a key Middle East member of the American-led coalition said his government had not been told of the attack and that it was too early to judge its effect.

He said President Mubarak was at home when the bombing of Baghdad and other targets began and was informed by his advisers.

Even in Saudi Arabia, where most of the allied forces are based, there was no government reaction. However, official radio broadcasts spoke of “delight” over the attacks and predicted the “early liberation of Kuwait.”

In spite of such exultation, other officials in the region were warning citizens to stay low. Saudi Arabian officials closed the international airport at Dhahran south of Iraq on the Persian Gulf and ordered the facility evacuated.

The streets of all Saudi cities were reported quiet. But police and military units were patrolling, and official broadcast outlets were told that an “attack may be imminent.” Air raid sirens were heard periodically in some cities.

The first Arab government reaction came from the U.N. ambassador of the exiled Kuwaiti government. The United States has carried out the direction of the whole world, Ambassador Mohammed Abulhasan said in New York, “namely to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqi aggression.

“We wish victory for this operation,” he said.

Although President Bush has often pointed to the support he has from many Arab states, including about 70,000 Arab troops deployed in Saudi Arabia, there were no reports that any of these forces took part in the opening operations.

The war--and even the likelihood of a successful outcome--was not forseen with any great joy in the region, even by Kuwaitis forced into exile by the Aug. 2 Iraqi invasion of their country.

“Remember, we all have mothers and brothers and children we left behind,” Mohammed Adjami said in Manama, Bahrain.

“We don’t know what will happen to our relatives in a war,” said the civilian engineer with the Kuwaiti air force.

Another Kuwaiti exile, Dr. Sanad Fadala, spoke of the fear that many people have that the war, while settling one dispute, may lead to other, equally serious problems.

“There will be difficult times even when our country is free,” he said. “There will be conflict between the people who stayed behind and the people who fled, between the 400,000 Palestinians and Kuwaitis.”

Speaking shortly before the air strikes began, a senior Egyptian military source said Egypt expected the war will last no longer than three weeks--beginning with the massive waves of air strikes and culminating in mopping-up operations by allied ground forces against Iraqi troops in Kuwait.

Most military officials and diplomats in Cairo expected the Iraqis to launch a missile strike at Tel Aviv in an effort to break apart the Arab coalition supporting the United States by dragging Israel into the conflict. But Mubarak has indicated, and Western envoys say they have received assurances, that Egypt’s support for the war effort will not falter as long as any Israeli retaliation is “not out of proportion” with the scale of the provocation.

Word that the war had begun was not announced in Cairo until 2:30 a.m.--about an hour after the first wave of planes struck Baghdad--and came long after most Egyptians had gone to sleep.

But as news of the attack began to spread, Egyptians still on the streets began to honk the horns of their cars in celebration.

Times staff writers Michael Ross in Cairo and Charles P. Wallace in Manama, Bahrain, contributed to this article.