Iranian airborne commandos landed behind the Iraqi lines and Iranian helicopters hit Iraqi tanks with TOW missiles.

Aboard the vessels, according to Western intelligence, were large amounts of Iraqi weapons, including surface-to-surface missiles capable of hitting Syrian territory, tanks and heavy artillery.

After strikes on the air defense systems, the allies would concentrate on hitting tanks, armored personnel carriers and other heavy weapons.

This meant Abrams tanks could hit Iraqi tanks before the enemy got in range-a decisive advantage in this kind of combat.

Allied warplanes also hit communication lines, command bunkers, radio relay stations and surface-to-air missile sites, as well as several tanks or armored personnel vehicles.

It had been built to hit tanks, not people.

On his first sortie, in the face of heavy fire, he made 4 low level attacks on the target, hitting several tanks.

American officials said the American fighter-bombers had also hoped to hit tanks attacking the town but that bad weather had made attacks on the tanks difficult.

NATO said its overnight raids hit tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, radar sites and troop assembly areas.

Increasingly now we are striking the forces themselves, hitting tanks, artillery, armored personnel carriers, radar missiles and aircraft.