Aerial Duel Over Gulf : Saudi F-15 Foils Bombing Raid, Downs 2 Iraqi Jets

A Saudi fighter pilot intercepted and knocked out two Iraqi jets streaking over the Persian Gulf today that were carrying missiles capable of attacking allied ships.

The thwarted Iraqi jet attack was apparently the first time since the war began last Thursday that the Iraqis have even attempted to enter Saudi airspace.

As the Gulf War entered its second week, French warplanes made their first foray into Iraq, attacking positions of the elite Republican Guard near the Iraq-Kuwait border, the Defense Ministry said in Paris. Previously, France had said it would only hit targets in occupied Kuwait.

Saudi military officials in Dhahran said a Saudi pilot flying a U.S.-made F-15 shot down two Iraqi Mirage F-1 fighter jets loaded with bombs that entered Saudi airspace.

“I just rolled in behind them and shot them down,” said the pilot, who agreed to be identified only as Capt. Ayedh.

The British, meanwhile, gave a confirming but slightly different account of the incident. In a briefing, Group Capt. Naill Irving of the Royal Air Force said crews of the HMS Gloucester and Cardiff detected the approach of three Iraqi jets--two Floggers, or MIG fighters, and one Mirage capable of launching Exocet missiles.

The two MIGs were destroyed by a Saudi fighter aircraft, he said. The Mirage discharged the Exocet out of range and fled.

The British captain also said allied forces captured an Iraqi minesweeper in the northern Persian Gulf--killing three Iraqis and capturing 22. He also said a sixth British Tornado had been lost.

Baghdad Radio said today allied planes had struck two Iraqi tankers in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday and that “large quantities” of oil had spilled into the sea. Saudi authorities confirmed that two oil slicks were moving south off the coast of Kuwait.

Allied forces flew more than 3,000 sorties over Iraq and Kuwait today as the focus shifted to hammering ground positions in preparation for an all-out assault.

Meanwhile, the strategic city of Basra in southern Iraq, the Iraqi nerve center of the Kuwaiti theater, was under heavy land and sea attack for the third day as allied forces attempted to sever lines of communications and supplies from Baghdad.

The raids on Basra came a day after Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters the next bombing target would be ground forces.

“Our strategy for dealing with this army is very simple: First we’re going to cut it off, then we’re going to kill it,” he said.

The Iraqis, as has been their strategy since the war began, remained hunkered down for another day, with only occasional artillery fire exchanges at the Kuwaiti-Saudi border. They also fired six Scud missiles overnight aimed at eastern and central Saudi Arabia. All of them were intercepted by American-made Patriot missiles.

At a briefing this evening, Lt. Col. Greg Pepin said that, with relatively clear skies over Kuwait and southern Iraq, today had been a “highly successful day of operation.”

He said that one F-16 fighter jet was hit by enemy fire Wednesday but that the pilot managed to fly his crippled plane over the Persian Gulf, where he ejected and was picked up by a helicopter from a U.S. naval vessel.

Pepin also said that while American jets were bombing Iraqi airfields today, they also destroyed three bombers that were discovered at one of the landing strips.

Most of Iraq’s 700 combat aircraft remain in hardened, bombproof hangars, and the number of sorties have decreased from roughly 250 at the start of the war to 30 to 40 a day. The allied forces have flown about 15,000 sorties since the fighting began last week.

No planes were lost and no fatalities were reported today by the Americans.

Pepin also said that Navy A-6 jets destroyed a tanker that was sitting off the coast collecting intelligence.