The Day in the Gulf

* BUSH SEEKS SOLUTION: “The time has come to put an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict,” President Bush told a joint session of Congress. In a nationally televised speech proclaiming a triumphant end to the Persian Gulf War, he said that “we must work to create new opportunities for peace and stability in the Middle East” and that America and its allies will become a “force for peace and security” in the region.

* ARABS PLAN SECURITY: The Arab allies in the war against Iraq agreed to a security system built around Egyptian and Syrian forces. Foreign ministers of the eight states said after meeting in Damascus, Syria, that the cost will be borne by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Gulf oil sheikdoms.

* POWS WELCOMED: Fifteen Americans, the last known American prisoners of the Gulf War, were flown to Saudi Arabia on an International Red Cross plane. They were given a heroes’ welcome by Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, allied commander. They and 20 other allied prisoners were exchanged for 294 Iraqi prisoners flown to Baghdad by the Red Cross, the first of more than 60,000 Iraqi prisoners to be freed.

* HUSSEIN TIGHTENS GRIP: President Saddam Hussein fired Iraq’s interior minister, the country’s top internal security official, and replaced him with his ruthless and fiercely loyal cousin. And Hussein gave bonuses to Iraq’s armed forces, particularly his elite Republican Guard, which battled rebels in Basra and other southern Iraqi cities.

* BASRA SUBDUED: Forces loyal to Hussein appeared to have put down the uprising in Basra. U.S. military officials said all military units in the southern port now seemed to be on the same side. Rebels reportedly controlled the city for a day last weekend before troops subdued them. American sources said that only two southern cities--Karbala and Najaf--still appeared to be in turmoil.