Grim Warning by Israel : Arens Vows ‘We Will Retaliate’ for Iraqi Missile Attack : U.S. Bombs Rain Down on Scud Sites

JERUSALEM —  Defense Minister Moshe Arens said today that Israel will retaliate for the Iraqi missile attack earlier in the day.

“We have said publicly and to the Americans that if we were attacked we would react,” he told Israeli television. “We were attacked.”

“We will react, certainly,” Arens said when asked if the United States had understood that Israel would carry out its policy of retaliation.

The sirens for a second Iraqi attack, which proved to be a false alarm, sounded moments after Arens spoke on state television.

“We have publicly stated and also told the Americans when they visited the country a few days ago--the U.S. Administration knows that if we are attacked, we will respond. And we have been attacked,” Arens said.

“You will, of course, not expect me to state the date,” Arens said.

Arens was apparently referring to a delegation headed by Assistant Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger that visited shortly before the outbreak of war in the gulf.

“We have to take these actions that are necessary to defend ourselves,” Arens said in his first public statement since Israel was hit early in the morning by eight Scud missiles.

U.S. officials fear Israeli involvement in the war could cause the defection of Arab members of the coalition seeking Iraq’s ouster from Kuwait.

U.S.-led forces carried out the largest air bombardment since World War II today following Iraq’s surprise missile attack on Israel. President Bush urged Israel not to retaliate.

The President also warned the allied coalition not to get euphoric over early battle successes.

Eight Scud missiles carrying conventional warheads struck Israel shortly after 2 a.m. local time. With world leaders urging caution, Israel did not immediately retaliate.

U.S. military officials said half a dozen Iraqi mobile missile launchers were discovered and destroyed today and an enemy Scud missile heading for Saudi Arabia was knocked out of the air.

Pentagon officials reported two more American planes missing--bringing the total to three with five men listed as missing in action. In addition, two British, one Kuwaiti and one Italian plane were missing.

Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. commander of Operation Desert Storm, said at a briefing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that U.S. war planes had located 11 mobile missile launchers in Iraq and six had been destroyed. An attack was under way to destroy the others, he said.

“Finding the fixed missile launchers is a relatively easy thing to do but finding a mobile launcher is like finding a needle in a haystack, “ he said.

It was not certain how many more mobile launchers remained in Iraqi hands.

A missile launched by Iraq toward Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, was intercepted by the U.S. Army Patriot air defense missile and destroyed, Schwarzkopf said. It was the first use of the Patriot during a military conflict and is the first time an air defense system has knocked down a ballistic missile.