11.  The manifesto condemned the invasion of Kuwait and called for the immediate withdrawal of Iraqi forces.

12.  During February the United States-led allied forces continued their extensive and largely unopposed air campaign against Iraq and against Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait.

13.  If these terms were met, coalition forces would not attack retreating Iraqi forces, but any breach of these terms would bring an instant response from coalition forces.

14.  Meeting minimum resistance, the allied air forces continued to bomb targets in Iraq, but also concentrated increasingly on the Iraqi forces in Kuwait and their supply routes.

15.  Among the shattered Iraqi forces only the Republican Guard was reported to be standing firm north of the Kuwait-Iraq border.

16.  Their claims were supported on the same day by UK Foreign Office sources who said that Iraqi forces were pursuing a policy of tremendous inhumanity.

17.  The giant oil slick in the Gulf, caused mainly by the deliberate action of Iraqi forces in Kuwait, continued to cause concern during February.

18.  Underground groups which had operated inside Kuwait against the Iraqi forces issued demands for political reform which mirrored calls made by exiled opposition leaders.

19.  As more details were revealed of the atrocities committed by the occupying Iraqi forces, there were further reprisal attacks.

20.  However, Iraqi forces were reported to have mined the northern oilfields around Kirkuk, claimed by the Kurds as part of their territory.