Israel Relieved by Allied Pressure to Strip Iraqi Military Power : Adversaries: Jerusalem, worried that Hussein’s army might escape from Kuwait, had hinted at taking action.

Israel expressed relief Friday that President Bush, with his high-noon ultimatum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, appeared to cut short a Soviet-sponsored peace plan that in Israeli eyes would let Iraq walk away from Kuwait with its huge army intact.

“Obviously, we think that destroying Iraq’s army is in the minds of the coalition and this matches our goals,” government spokesman Yossi Olmert said, referring to the U.S.-led alliance lined up against Iraq. “We back the Administration in what it is doing.”

During the course of the day, officials voiced alarm that the Soviet-Iraqi peace plan would, by giving Hussein’s army an extended time to pull out, preserve Iraq’s might and provide a base for a further arms buildup after a withdrawal from Kuwait.

Bush is giving Iraq only a week to retreat, too little time, some observers say, for him to dig out many of his tanks.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said that the Soviet-Iraqi proposal did not “go far enough for Israel,” government radio reported, and he hinted at an Israeli armed response if Iraq does not shed its military might or it is not destroyed by U.S.-led forces in Saudi Arabia.

“If the conditions should change, it will change our behavior. Our army is ready,” Shamir said. “We can say now that it would be very bad and dangerous for us if Saddam Hussein remained in power within Iraq with a substantial part of his huge army still intact.”

As if to highlight its contention that the Iraqi army still has plenty of bite, the government released an estimate that 80% of Iraq’s equipment had survived nearly four weeks of allied bombing. In the same report, the government estimated that only 2,500 tanks and 1,700 artillery pieces remain in use in Kuwait. Estimates available at the beginning of the war credited Iraq with a total of 4,200 tanks and 3,100 artillery pieces in and around the battlefront.

Israel said that Iraq still possesses numerous Scud missiles and some fixed launchers to fire them from. Only a handful--perhaps between three and seven mobile Scud launchers--have been knocked out by allied air strikes, according to the Israeli estimate.

“We believe that unless the Iraqi war machine is dismantled, there will be other Kuwaits,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel has refrained from striking back at Iraq for a series of missile attacks that have directly killed two Israeli civilians, injured hundreds of others and caused tens of millions of dollars damage. Although recent Scud missile strikes have come singly or in erratic pairs and caused little damage, civil defense officials cautioned Friday against complacency.

If a ground war in Kuwait begins, Iraq may launch a barrage of missiles and some might carry chemical warheads, they warned.

In past weeks, Israel has openly called for the overthrow of Hussein, but in the immediate wake of the Soviet peace initiative, authorities here have concentrated on the need to neutralize his army. Shamir’s spokesman, Avi Pazner, said that the Soviet-Iraqi plan, which apparently would give Iraq a chance to leave Kuwait with its tanks and artillery in hand, is unacceptable.

“The minimum condition for letting Iraq leave is if the heavy arms remain (in Kuwait),” said Pazner, who added that the plan as outlined so far “only favors Iraq and the Soviets.”

The outcome of the war and the Soviet role in it would be a test of Soviet intentions worldwide, declared Deputy Foreign Minister Netanyahu. In past Middle East wars, Moscow sided with several of Israel’s adversaries.

“I hope we are going to see the new Soviet Union and not the old Soviet Union that automatically lines up with the most predatory and most radical Arab regimes, arms them and gives them the benefit of diplomatic cover,” Netanyahu said.

Israel’s urging that Iraq’s military be dismantled stems largely from its own experience in past wars, analysts say. After previous Middle East conflicts, Israel’s defeated opponents were able to rearm quickly with more and more modern equipment.

“The difference between 50 divisions and 20 divisions, between elite machinery and third-rate infantry will spell the difference in the postwar military balance,” said Dore Gold, a defense analyst at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv.

Gerald Steinberg, a military expert at Bar Ilan University, added: “From Israel’s point of view, Washington should be tough. Iraq should leave without its heavy weapons, and arms sales to Iraq should be embargoed thereafter.”

If not, Israel will be tempted to take matters into its own hands through preemptive strikes. “If Iraq remains powerful, the feeling here will be ‘We’re next.’ There will be preemption and a very unstable Middle East,” Steinberg declared.