The sound of air-raid sirens pierced the cool night air in Baghdad as residents prepared for yet another night of bombing. Air-raid shelters were busier than on any previous night as news of injuries and deaths, as a result of US and British bombings, filtered through the city.
Soldiers and police guarded government installations across the city and mounted roadblocks to prevent looting and disorder following the expected air attacks. So far there has been little sign of any ill-discipline and few reports of army officers defecting.
Although officials say the list is incomplete, civil servants estimated that 25 civilians have died in the bombing so far, just in the Baghdad area. More than 75 have been injured. The figures are impossible to verify, but are generally believed to be on the low side. The number of military casualties has not been disclosed.
After another day of air strikes and bombing, the Iraqi authorities have finally admitted that serious damage is being done to the country's infrastructure.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Tariq Aziz, detailed a catalogue of significant attacks. "The American bombers have launched their bombs on the oil refinery in Basra," he announced at a news conference.
The oil installation is one of the most significant assets in Iraq and produces more than half of the crude oil and some of the petrol for this country of 22 million people. Oil accounts for more than 90 per cent of Iraq's total export earnings and is the lifeblood of the economy.
A strike on such a key component of the economic infrastructure may indicate that the war aims of the US and Britain are wider than have been hitherto admitted.
Radio and television stations have been destroyed in the first and second waves of bombing, and Iraqis now have to rely on hearsay and rumour for their news. Mr Aziz's interview will be seen by readers all over the world before Iraqis have any idea of what he said.
"They have attacked the old Ministry of Defence building in Baghdad, an old building which we Iraqis treasure. This does not have any weapons of mass destruction. This is just full of administration departments. The Americans and Zionists have bombed the presidential sites in the country. Why do they do this? The presidential houses are guest houses for visitors. It is an evil act," the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Iraqi sources said soldiers shot down 77 cruise missiles over the last two days, a claim impossible to verify. Iraqi officials also showed journalists damage to the Natural History Museum and to a residential area near the centre of the city.
They did not bring journalists to the site of one explosion late on Thursday night in the middle of town. That site is occupied by the military industrial organisation of the state and appeared to be severely damaged by a cruise missile.
Information Ministry officials took journalists to the scene of what they said was a cruise missile attack on a hospital. The Saddam Medical Centre had certainly been damaged, but there was no sign of a direct hit by a cruise missile. The damage appeared to come from a shock wave generated after a Tomahawk missile attack on a government installation nearby.
Nevertheless, doctors evacuated patients to the basement and said they were closing all wards. "As the manager of this hospital, I have to act with responsibility and the Americans are destroying this country. I cannot take any more risks," said Dr Ali al-Mukabar.
President Saddam went on regional television to urge fellow Iraqis to resist the current attack by foreign forces.
"You are representing justice and all the great characteristics of justice against injustice," he said, reading from a prepared script.
His address was carried by the al-Jazera Arabic television news channel. "We will not compromise or kneel in the face of injustice. We will not let evil triumph over virtue," he said.
President Saddam called on the armed forces and the population in general to resist the attacks with all their might and to strike back. He called on all Arabs to hit at the American and British "criminals".
Ministry of Information officials said the US had been showering southern Iraq with leaflets urging residents to rise up and overthrow the government. "The Americans dropped provocative propaganda leaflets in southern Iraq," the official said.
The uprising by the Shia population of the south was brutally and easily put down by the Baghdad government after the allies encouraged an uprising following the Gulf War in 1991.
Iraqis are waiting anxiously for the first sighting of the new moon, which heralds the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. There is a high expectation that the start of the holy period will bring an end to aerial bombardment.
Most Iraqis believe that the US and Britain, in deference to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, their allies in the region, would ease the military bombardment.
But it is unclear whether the action will stop then. In a country the size of Iraq, there are many targets and many sites still to be bombed.