Britain launched its first ever cruise missiles during the devastating Allied onslaught on targets through Yugoslavia last night.

In a Ministry of Defence media briefing today, Defence Secretary George Robertson outlined the extent of the bombardment, and explained why it had to happen.

He said: "Our action has been supported by the 19 NATO states, 13 of which had planes and support committed to action.

"We believe NATO acted within international law and only Russia, China and Namibia disagreed with the action taken.

"We believe the military action is justified given the humanitarian emergency.

"Milosevic should, even at this late stage, think again about withdrawing his troops. NATO has the will to see this through and stop the flow of blood and human misery in Kosovo.

"We will be watching how he behaves and the allied attacks will continue later today unless he stops. We will not stand by and watch a tragedy unfold on our own continent.

"Last night NATO backed up its words with actions."

He outlined the UK's involvement in the strikes. Six British Harrier jets were sent out of an Italian base and HMS Splendid fired its Cruise missiles, the first of their kind to be used by the British forces.

The first strikes concentrated on the Yugoslav air defence system, including sophisticated radar tracking equipment on the outskirts of Pristina, the Kosovo capital.

Ammunitions factories were next to be targeted by US planes.

The UK force's defence chief of staff, General Charles Guthrie, said there were some skirmishes between NATO and Yugoslav jets, during which four enemy Mig fighters were said to have been shot down.

Soldiers with 2 Signals Regiment based at Imphal Barracks remained on 72-hour standby today (Thursday) to join other front-line British troops in the Balkans.

It means the 150 soldiers, mostly from York, could be mobilised at any moment and given three days to fly out to Macedonia if NATO generals decide to use ground troops to go to the aid of Albanian nationals in Kosovo.

An army spokesman confirmed 4,500 British troops already in Macedonia - including 500 soldiers from various regiments based at Catterick - would go into Kosovo in the event of a land push by a Nato 'implementation force.'

He added: "At that point, 2 Signals would be likely to go and join them."

Families of local soldiers serving with the regiment today said they backed strong Nato action, despite fears about the safety of their own loved ones.

York builder and former Rugby international Ray Batten, whose 23-year-old daughter Rachel Howarth is with 2 Signals, said: "We cannot let innocent people be slaughtered, especially women and children. It's like what happened in the second world war, people being overrun, their country taken over by others. It's ethnic cleansing.

"We have to send in forces to protect them. The sad thing is that my daughter is one of them."

Meanwhile Bosnian refugees living in York, whose homes were burned down by the Serbs now terrorising ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, have today welcomed the Allied attack.

Tony Chance, who runs the York-Sarajevo Link and helped dozens of refugees at the height of the Bosnian troubles, said: "I have spoken to a few of the refugees this morning. They are saying the things happening in Kosovo are the same as those which happened to them and they feel the Serbs are getting their just desserts.

"Ihmad Dipa, who helps me out at my newsagents, suffered greatly at the hands of the Serbs, who told him and his sister to leave Sarajevo in five minutes or they would be shot. There homes were burned."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.