DESERT STORM: DAY 6

Military

Iraq renewed its Scud attacks on Israel today, with one missile hitting downtown Tel Aviv, causing extensive damage and some casualties. U.S.-made Patriot missiles were launched at several incoming missiles but at least one of the Scuds hit a residential area. The attack was the first on Israel since the Patriot missiles arrived last weekend.

Kuwaiti oil facilities were set ablaze by Iraqi forces. Aerial photography showed oil wells and storage tanks had been blown up at the al-Wafra facility in southern Kuwait, just across the Saudi border, the U.S. military command said. Oil storage tanks were on fire at a pair of major facilities--Shuaiba and Mina Abdullah--next to each other about 60 miles north of the border, sources said.

Navy planes sank two Iraqi ships; allied pilots have flown more than 10,000 sorties, U.S. officials said. Navy pilots sank an Iraqi mine-layer and another ship in the northern Persian Gulf and chased two other boats from the area, the military said. In an earlier briefing, a spokesman for the Joint Arab Force said Qatar’s air force had joined the other allied nations in attacks in Kuwait and Iraq.

In Iraq, two more men identified as captive American airmen were displayed on television. American TV news showed Iraqi television videotape of two more captured U.S. airmen. They were identified as Air Force Maj. Jeffrey Scott Tice and Capt. Harry Michael Roberts. Two airmen by those names were listed by the Pentagon on Sunday as missing in action.

Patriot air defenses would not be effective against Iraqi Scud missiles with chemical warheads, Pentagon officials said today. U.S. Patriot missiles have destroyed most Scuds fired toward Saudi Arabia and Israel. Although the Patriots’ maximum range is about 40 miles, they have intercepted Scuds far closer to the Saudis than that, in some cases sending debris scattering over Riyadh and other areas. Thus, experts believe if a Scud hit by a Patriot carried poison gas, the chemicals would disperse and harm American troops and allies.

Political

The Pentagon made it clear it would become increasingly tight-lipped about war details. Spokesman Pete Williams said it will delay announcements about American planes being downed, because such announcements could make it more difficult for airmen to escape. The military also said it would no longer release personal information or reveal the hometowns of missing service personnel. Williams also said military officials would “fuzz it up a little bit” regarding the number of Patriot missiles fired at Iraqi rockets--possibly because officials do not want the Iraqis to be able to calculate how many Patriots remain in the U.S. arsenal.

Financial

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan today said that the Persian Gulf War is “a key factor” in the nation’s economic downturn but that signs of recovery are already emerging. “The damage from the Persian Gulf crisis went beyond the direct effect of higher oil prices,” Greenspan told the House Budget Committee.

The New York stock market lost ground again today as investors continued to take profits.