War In The Balkans: Allied Strategy - Nato gets ready for third phase of assaults

NATO WAS preparing last night to shift the air battle over Yugoslavia into the next phase, targeting ground forces and the country's political structures more directly.

In a tacit acceptance that the campaign so far is not achieving the desired result, the allies were considering increasing the pace, scope and focus of the attacks to stop the Yugoslav military. Nato ambassadors met in closed session in Brussels to consider the idea.

The strikes will shortly move into a third phase, the Pentagon said, with attacks aimed more directly at Yugoslav ground forces. The combination of the weather and the need to hit air defences has so far limited allied attacks against the Serbian troops who are attacking the civilian population in Kosovo. At the same time, the massive ethnic cleansing effort by the Yugoslav military has apparently surprised the West, leaving food supplies it had stockpiled out of reach in Kosovo.

America yesterday defended the air campaign against Kosovo, saying that it had known Nato's military goals would not be achieved overnight.

"We always realised this would take some time and it would not be easy to do," said Kenneth Bacon, spokesman for the US Department of Defense. "I think it will take much longer to degrade the forces as much as we think we need to do," he told reporters.

So far, attacks had hit the Yugoslav air defence system, command, control and communications sites, military and security police targets and defence facilities. "We are now beginning to focus more precisely on the troops," he said.

In Brussels, a diplomat said that the mission so far had not turned out as had been hoped. "In terms of the impact on their [the Serbs'] agenda we don't think we've been very effective," he said. Operation Allied Force "was not planned for this particular scenario. It was never conceived as a campaign to stop the total wipeout of a province. It was conceived as a means of leverage in peace negotiations."

Mr Bacon admitted: "It is difficult to say that we have prevented one act of brutality at this stage."

Under Phase Two, the current round of attacks are limited to south of the 44th parallel, which roughly divides Yugoslavia in half. This division could be overridden in Phase Three. Attacks would be escalated in number, and more aircraft - possibly including helicopter gunships - could be used. America will also make use of unmanned aerial vehicles such as the Predator surveillance aircraft.

The US has moved six more A-10 ground attack aircraft down to Aviano in Italy from elsewhere in Europe as it shifts its targeting, the Pentagon said. But so far, the weather and fears of attack from Serb anti-air defences have made it impossible to use such aircraft. Canada has also announced that it will send six more CF-18 fighters to double its presence.

Bad weather has dogged the air campaign, leading to hundreds of missions being aborted because the aircraft could not be sure of dropping their weapons accurately.

"We are determined, and the pilots are absolutely determined, to avoid civilian casualties if humanly possible," said Sir Charles Guthrie, Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff.

The experience of the RAF Harriers has been particularly frustrating. Of the six nights of the campaign so far, they have flown on only two sorties when their laser-guided bombs have been successfully dropped on targets.