DESERT STORM: DAY 20 : Military
Allied aircraft bombed Baghdad and Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit today, shaking residents from their beds and sending columns of fire and smoke into the air. Travelers from the southern port of Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, also reported more heavy shelling. The constant bombardment seemed to be taking a heavy toll, as Baghdad radio announced that oil for heat, gasoline, cooking gas and other fuels would no longer be sold to civilians.
The battleship Missouri’s 16-inch guns boomed again overnight, silencing a troublesome Iraqi artillery battery in Kuwait with six 2,000-pound shells, the U.S. military said.
Syria and Iraqi forces exchanged fire near the Saudi border, in the first reported combat by Syria in the Persian Gulf War.
Ten more Iraqi warplanes reportedly sought refuge in Iran--bringing the number there to about 110, the U.S. military said.
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