European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january 23, 1991the stars and stripes a a a Page 7 War in the . Copters nearly attack Allied tanks by the stars and stripes Eastern saudi Arabia Vii corps Apache a helicopters nearly attacked a column of soviet built tanks before learning they were Friendly syrian troops according to combat Pool reports filed Early tuesday morning. Other reports said iraqi forces Are apparently building up along the Likely Battlefront in Southern Kuwait. Additionally Marine and Navy officers met sunday aboard the amphibious command ship Blue Ridge in the persian Gulf to plan a possible amphibious assault on Kuwait col. Ron Richard of the 2nd Marine div said in the reports which were cleared by military officials. The iraqi military movements observed by Marine and army intelligence units reverse iraqis trend during the first shipboard marines see longer War aboard Dock Landing ship Gunston Hall a the persian Gulf War could take months not weeks. That a the perception of some on Board americans newest amphibious assault vessel the latest to enter the War zone. The Gunston Hall is in a Gulf port for a week of routine maintenance before joining the assault team already assembled for the probable assault. Cpl. Robert Hildenbrand 21, from Essexville Mich told reporters he believed the War would take longer than originally expected. Another officer Steve Lahti 32, from Minnesota said he saw no reason to hurry. A. A a a a ship officials said Iraq appears to have mined kuwaiti beaches and Many of those mines had come Loose from their moorings and were Drifting South. The ships Captain cmdr. William Marshall of Norfolk va., noted reports of a dozen sightings North of Bahrain. Warnings have already been issued to commercial shipping in the Region. The vessel with a Crew of 375 plus 600 marines was commissioned in 1989. On Board Are three state of the Art hovercraft never used in combat. Days of the Allied air Campaign. Iraqi ground forces had appeared to pull Back from the. Kuwaiti Border and marines reported Only Light resistance from screening forces. A Apache helicopter pilots from the 1.1th aviation brigade Hillesheim Germany almost went into action a few Days ago to strike at tanks that turned out to be syrian one Pool report said. Iraqi and multinational forces have a variety of nato and Warsaw pact vehicles that experts have said could Lead to incidents of Allied forces acc Dently targeting Friendly troops. The Apache gunships equipped with laser guided hellfire missiles were responding to reports of soviet made tanks approaching the saudi Border a the helicopters prepared to attack but commanders realized at the last minute that the tanks were syrian the report said. The helicopter unit has also detected Maneu vers involving iraqi armoured units. Iraqi tanks generally a have moved from one prepared position to another a where they Are Able to dig in and survive Aerial attacks said col. Johnnie hit the brigade commander. Meanwhile marines say that mass defections of Iraq i troops which were predicted prior to hostilities have failed to materialize. Field commanders  that significant numbers of enemy soldiers will surrender anytime soon. A we Are not looking for thousands of people coming across the Border begging for Rice and handing us their weapons a said Richard. A this is not an enemy that is going to go easy.�?�. Allied intelligence has detected what he called Quot increased movement Back and Forth from the Borders in the southernmost sections of Kuwait As iraqi com Vanders tried to avoid detection and bombing raids. It was unclear whether they were infantry Armor or both. However the reports suggest Iraq is strengthening its Border defences to meet a coming Allied ground offensive officers said. In the Gulf two Marine expeditionary brigades were aboard ships awaiting orders for a Landing on the East coast of Kuwait. Richard gave no indication that an amphibious Landing was imminent but said that an amphibious Force a a can go up Down the coast without tipping its hand Quot on when and where it might come ashore. Modia Pool . Marines practice Trench assaults in the saudi arabian desert in preparation for possible ground action against iraqi  reduce Middle East bound flights by agis salpukas the new York times airline travel to the Middle East especially cities such As Tel Aviv Amman Jordan and Riyadh saudi Arabia has become limited and Uncertain As most of the worlds major carriers have cancelled their flights to the Region. A a it a a Day to Day touch and go situation said Kerstin Sabene a spokeswoman for Lufthansa the German airline that has several flights to the Middle East. She said that because of the persian Gulf War Lufthansa like other major airlines had suspended flights to Riyadh Amman and Tel Aviv but was still flying to Cairo Egypt from Frankfurt. Trans world airlines said monday that it was cutting its flights to Europe in half and substituting smaller Boeing 767s for its Boeing 747s on Many routes. It appears to be the largest cutback by an airline attributed to the War. Twa said that 2,500 of its workers would be Laid off. Changes in service to the Gulf Are occurring daily making it hard to determine which airlines Are still flying to the Region. The consensus among travel Industry executives Mon Day was that of More than 20 major carriers that normally serve the Region Only a handful were continuing to Fly into Israel saudi Arabia and Jordan. Al a1 Israel airlines and Tower air were still flying to Tel Aviv. Saudia was still flying to Riyadh out of Frankfurt and Paris and Royal jordanian was still flying to Amman. Sheryl Stein the manager of Public relations for Al Al said that it was continuing daily service from John f. Kennedy International a port in new York to Tel Aviv. She said that the Carrier had not reduced its schedule and that it had 17 flights monday in and out of Tel Aviv to other parts of the world. In addition Stein said the airline was bringing in immigrants daily from Hungary and Romania. Some carriers including pan american world airways and Twa began to suspend service even before the War started As insurance rates on flights soared. Fears of terrorist attacks related to the War have also frightened Many travellers who had booked trips to Europe. Many travellers Are switching from overseas trips to vacations in Florida the West coast or other spots closer to Home. A there is no question that business is off Quot said Steven e. Heydt senior vice  of Liberty travel a major travel Agency in the new York area. A now that people Are planning their summer a he added a they Are looking to the West and South. Mexico California and the Caribbean will  he said that the Agency would be emphasizing those destinations in its advertisements while cutting Back on Europe. He added that Liberty was also reducing its advertising on radio and television because the coverage of the Gulf War made it hard to reach viewers. A we want to wait awhile to get a handle on things a he added. A is this going to be a two week War or what a tourism to the Middle East and Europe also fell substantially when terrorists attacked planes and a cruise ship in 1985 and 1986. Although Many people shifted their vacation plans to Points in the United states Asia and latin America the Overall growth of tourism of about 4 percent a year continued. The War however presents a much greater danger since terrorist attacks could break out anywhere