BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- NATO ordered its military commanders last night to begin airstrikes against Yugoslavia after President Slobodan Milosevic sent an American envoy away without a deal to end this country's explosive civil war.

The order left it up to the military leadership when to begin an air war, although no attack was expected until today at the earliest.

"I have just directed the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General [Wesley K.] Clark, to initiate the air operations in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana announced in Brussels, Belgium, at 5: 17 p.m. EST.

If NATO launches an attack, it would mark the first time in its 50-year history that the Atlantic alliance has gone to war against a sovereign state.

Solana's announcement came hours after Milosevic spurned a Western ultimatum to end the crisis in the war-torn province of Kosovo.

U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke said he failed during two days of last-ditch talks to get Milosevic to honor a cease-fire and accept a peace agreement that would allow a NATO-led force to enter the Serbian province.

"Commitments were not forthcoming on either point," Holbrooke said before flying to Brussels for consultations with NATO chiefs.

After Holbrooke left, the Yugoslav government declared a "state of immediate threat of war," which was seen as practically a declaration of martial law.

The order means that executive power will be concentrated, that there will be strict mobilization rules and that the government will control all telephone, telecommunications and railways and even privately owned companies, said Kosta Cavoski, a constitutional law professor at Belgrade University.

Much at stake

For years, Western officials have described huge stakes in the small Serbian province, which is overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Albanians. Because of its ethnic ties, officials fear that the conflict could ignite a regional conflagration that could turn two NATO members, Greece and Turkey, against each other.

Solana said the air campaign would be "directed toward disrupting the violent attacks being committed by the Serb army and the special police forces, and weakening their ability to cause further humanitarian catastrophes."

"Let me be very clear," he said. "NATO is not waging war against Yugoslavia. We have no quarrel with the people of Yugoslavia, a people who for too long have been isolated in Europe because of the policies of their government. Our objective is to prevent more human suffering, more repression, more violence against the civilian population of Kosovo."

The airstrikes, while weakening the Serbian forces who have been the repressing ethnic Albanians, would strengthen the rebels who have been fighting for independence.

Last week, the rebels signed a Western-drafted peace plan that calls for them to put their dreams of independence on hold but would grant Kosovo a large measure of autonomy within Yugoslavia.

"We are appealing to the Kosovar Albanians to remain firmly committed to the road to peace which they have chosen in Paris," Solana said.

Solana's order to his commanders meant that the question of when to launch airstrikes had been formally shifted from civilian leaders to the military. But nothing happened immediately, leaving time for Milosevic to change his mind before a NATO attack.

'Diplomacy is over'

"If he came out and said, 'I accept the peace plan,' " halting military activity against the Kosovo Albanians, and did so before missiles were in the air, "people would take note of that," a senior Clinton administration official said.

But the official added: "Diplomacy is over as far as we're concerned."

Holbrooke, a Balkan trouble- shooter who has matched wits and tempers with Milosevic over the years, left open the possibility that Yugoslav officials could change course and accept the key components to the peace deal.

"Communications are always open, even in times of conflict," Holbrooke said.

But he acknowledged that this was the "bleakest" he had ever been in his negotiations with Milosevic, adding that talks were "very tense and tinged with a sense we were crossing a watershed moment."

In Washington, President Clinton began to make the case for Western intervention in Kosovo, where clashes between Serbian security forces and ethnic Albanian rebels with the Kosovo Liberation Army have left more than 2,000 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.

"The dangers of acting must be weighed against the dangers of inaction," Clinton said.

As news of possible airstrikes spread, Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov abruptly called off his trip to Washington after a call from Vice President Al Gore.

"It [an attack] defies common sense and could destabilize the situation in the world. We are categorically against this, categorically," Primakov told reporters in Ireland before canceling his U.S. visit.

He said that use of force without a U.N. Security Council resolution was unjustified and that negotiations had not been exhausted.

"This would completely change the entire character of the world order put in place after World War II," he said.

A barrage of missiles

A NATO attack on Serbia would begin with a barrage of sea-launched cruise missiles, targeting the sophisticated air defenses that pepper the country's craggy hills, Pentagon and NATO officials say.

The missiles, each carrying a 1,000-pound warhead, would pave the way for attacks by allied planes, in which allied pilots could face a greater threat from anti-aircraft fire than during the Bosnia bombing campaign in 1995 or the U.S. strikes in no-fly zones in Iraq, officials said.

Allied warships in the Adriatic Sea would unleash hundreds of missiles, possibly followed by attacks by B-52 bombers with their cargo of cruise missiles bearing 2,000- and 3,000-pound warheads.

In Kosovo, Serbian security forces stepped up their campaign against the KLA, cutting a swath through the western part of the province. Attacks have intensified since last weekend's withdrawal of unarmed observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Yugoslav officials prepared the population for an attack. Prime Minister Momir Vulatovic issued a "direct war danger" order that put the country on a war footing.

Near Kmetovce in Kosovo, a dozen soldiers were digging up the asphalt and apparently preparing to destroy or mine a key bridge. Elsewhere, forces were seen dispersing from their bases, which would be likely NATO targets.

Support for Milosevic

The Serbian parliament was virtually unanimous in expressing support for Milosevic's policy.

Gorica Gajevic, a leader of Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia, said: "Serbian and FRY [Yugoslavia] are for equality and cooperation. But we're not for sale or surrender. Even if the price to pay is bombing, we're not accepting foreign troops in our territories."

Vojislav Seselj, leader of the Radical Party, said: "If we're attacked and the war is announced, there will be no mercy for deserters. If war happens, everyone has to give his maximum. There will be no deserting."

Vuk Draskovic, leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, called for compromise, saying parliament should sign on to the Kosovo peace deal and agree to a foreign implementation force.

"They should be forces with a U.N. Security Council mandate," he said.

Draskovic said his party would "defend the country, will die for it. But once all of this is over, we'll send the bill to those who out of the two ways decided to choose the wrong one."

Kosovo's provincial capital of Pristina was on edge, the population virtually locked down at night. There are fears there that airstrikes could ignite a wave of violence between armed Serbian civilians and unarmed ethnic Albanians.

In Belgrade, citizens who have remained immune from the violence of a decade of Balkan wars were suddenly confronted with the danger of airstrikes. Many rushed home from work and stockpiled food and gas. At one gas station in Belgrade, people filled up their tanks under the eyes of armed police.

'Nothing to lose'

"The world should be simply told that if they attack, they will be fighting the war with dead people, and dead people are the most dangerous because they have nothing to lose," said Milija Jankovic, a Belgrade lawyer.

A journalist, Zorica Miladinovic, said: "I have the impression it will be either occupation or bombing. No matter if we sign or not, we'll be sorry."

Vera Ilic, a housewife, said the war-making preparations have left the people "stressed and exhausted by uncertainty."

"We don't deserve such treatment, and we should resist by all means," she said.

Sun staff writer Tom Bowman contributed to this article.

Pub Date: 3/24/99