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Cruise missiles, B-2 bombers strike in first wave

March 24, 1999
Web posted at: 7:14 p.m. EDT (1914 GMT)

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Orange fireballs illuminated the night sky outside the Yugoslav capital Belgrade and the Kosovo provincial capital Pristina Wednesday evening, as NATO ships and warplanes launched long-threatened airstrikes against Yugoslavia.

CNN Correspondent Brent Sadler reported seeing several "heavy-duty" explosions that sent showers of sparks into the black sky near Pristina, beginning at about 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. EST). The city was plunged into darkness shortly afterward, and sporadic automatic weapons fire was heard across the city.

The Yugoslav army said more than 20 targets in seven towns were attacked in the first hour of the assault, but air defense units had not been damaged, according to the official Tanjug news agency.

Serbian television reported a NATO plane had been shot down northwest of Pristina. But NATO's supreme commander in Europe, Gen. Wesley Clark, said no NATO fighters had been hit.

Pentagon officials said they believed at least two Yugoslav MiG-29 fighter planes had been shot down.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said NATO forces had targeted Yugoslav military facilities but would not be specific.

"We are attacking the military infrastructure that President Milosevic and his forces are using to repress and kill innocent people," Cohen said. "NATO forces are not attacking the people of Yugoslavia."

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The NATO attack came the day after senior U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke failed in a last-minute attempt to persuade Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to agree to a U.S.-drafted peace plan for Kosovo, which would grant local autonomy to ethnic Albanians but not independence.

Serb leaders have continued to reject a key element of that plan: allowing 28,000 NATO-led peacekeepers into the province to police the peace.

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana blamed Milosevic for prompting the airstrikes, saying the international community had pursued a diplomatic solution for months, to no avail.

"The time has come for action," Solana said in a statement.

U.S. President Bill Clinton said the military strikes have three objectives: to demonstrate NATO's resolve, to deter Belgrade from launching more offensives against Kosovo Albanians and to degrade Yugoslavia's military capabilities to carry out future attacks.

"Only firmness now can prevent greater catastrophe later," Clinton said. "Kosovo's crisis is now full-blown, and if we do not act clearly it will get even worse."

Pentagon sources said targets throughout Yugoslavia would be attacked. Defense officials are most concerned about mobile missile launchers that can shoot down jets up to 25,000 feet.

Blasts tear the night sky Wednesday in Pristina

U.S. ships and a British submarine launched Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Adriatic and were followed by U.S. B-52 bombers that fired air-launched cruise missiles over the Adriatic, sources said. The B-52s had flown out of England.

The sources said as many as 100 missiles could be launched in the initial attack. The plan would be to knock out sophisticated Serb anti-aircraft defenses, allowing manned aircraft from a number of NATO countries to take part in subsequent attacks.

The Pentagon also confirmed that two B-2 bombers took part in the attack, marking the first time the stealth bomber has been used in combat. The Air Force says the $2.2 billion dollar batwing bombers are nearly invisible to radar and are each capable of dropping satellite-guided 2,000-pound bombs on 16 targets.

Shortly after the attacks began, Russia, which has long opposed such strikes, recalled its NATO ambassador from Brussels. At the United Nations, Russia called for an immediate meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin called the attacks "outright aggression against Yugoslavia" and said his nation reserves the right to take "adequate measures including military ones to ensure its security and that of Europe."

Earlier, Milosevic vowed to defend his country but urged Yugoslavia citizens to remain calm.

NATO planes take off Wednesday from Aviano air base in Italy

He told his nation that the Yugoslav parliament made the right choice to reject international troops on its soil, but added, "We want to continue constant efforts for a peaceful resolution of the problem in Kosovo."

He said in the long run the problems of Kosovo can only be "resolved in a peaceful and political manner."

Serb military officials in Pristina said they had repositioned their troops to put their heavy weapons in less vulnerable spots. They said they wanted to avoid being provoked by the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army and to avoid the expected strikes.

NATO intelligence reports showed a continued buildup of Yugoslav troops, Serb police and military hardware in and around Kosovo. There were indications Yugoslav tank battalions had moved another 16 tanks into Kosovo.

A NATO official said that move is a clear indication that Yugoslav forces are poised "for a full-scale offensive" against Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.

Correspondents Brent Sadler and Christiane Amanpour, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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