The US-led coalition has moved to recapture the military initiative in the Iraq War with a massive air assault on elite Republican Guard units south of Baghdad.
In an unscheduled news conference in Doha last night, the commander of allied forces, Gen Tommy Franks, said the allies had made "rapid and in some cases dramatic" progress and "a great many areas" were under their control.
Progress by allied forces towards Baghdad continued throughout yesterday but fierce and unexpected resistance was again encountered in southern locations. The British Desert Rats were reported to have withdrawn from Basra.
The Republican Guard are regarded as the mainstay of Iraqi military resistance, which has proven more formidable than originally anticipated.
Large-scale Iraqi surrenders have also failed to materialise up to now. Last night's bombing was seen as an attempt to "soften-up" the elite Iraqi units ahead of a US-British move on Baghdad.
Coalition forces are said to be within 100 km of the Iraqi capital, though they have bypassed population centres to get there.
More air strikes hit Baghdad with dozens of explosions hitting central and south-eastern areas last night, while US forces were reported to have established a significant but unquantified presence in northern Iraq. Troops from the US army 5th Corps have formed a frontline just north of Kerbala, and only 50 miles south of Baghdad.
Vast convoys of tanks and ground forces have been racing up from Kuwait to join them for a battle that will ultimately decide the war in Iraq. "This is the start of the push towards Baghdad," a senior British military source said last night.
Ahead of them are 36,000 elite Iraqi soldiers, from three divisions, who represent half of the total Republican Guard force. Protected in sprawling bunkers 30 miles outside Baghdad, the armoured divisions are equipped with the best weapons in the Iraqi military, including Russian-built T-72 tanks and heavy artillery.
The option of calling in marines and paratroopers to Basra was being considered after units were forced to withdraw about 10 miles from the city - UN Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan warned of a humanitarian disaster unless electricity and water were restored to the city.
Closer to Baghdad, the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division was halted by a sandstorm on its way to the Shia holy city of Karbala, 80 km south of Baghdad. The troops made a rapid advance under heavy air cover and reportedly destroyed an Iraqi tank column in the process.
The US reacted with renewed anger after what appeared to be another parading of captured US forces. Iraqi state television showed footage of two men said to be pilots of an Apache attack helicopter downed after running into groundfire during a combat mission south west of Baghdad.
It was said they were POWs who would be treated in line with international law. The men did not appear to be injured.
A night assault by 32 Apache helicopters on the Medina division's second armoured brigade north of Karbala ended with at least one helicopter being downed.
The first British soldier to die in combat was killed near Az Zubayr, a southern Iraqi naval port. The coalition had claimed to be in control of the port on Sunday but it was the scene of fighting between Coalition and Iraqi forces yesterday.
Coalition commander, Gen Tommy Franks, told reporters the Iraqi regime was putting civilians at risk because it was placing troops and non-combatants in close proximity. When it was put to him that predictions about the Iraqi regime using chemical weapons had still not come true, he replied: "There is a school of thought that says, as the compression becomes tighter and tighter and tighter, the pressure will be greater and greater to use these weapons."
It was confirmed last night that the British Prime Minister Mr Blair is due to meet President Bush in the US later this week.