But the air campaign is now doing Israel more harm than good.

"This is not the start of the air campaign," one senior military official said in Washington.

"But that would mean a different kind of air campaign than we've run so far," he said.

On the 71st day of the air campaign, those views have not changed, the officials said.

"I don't think that this air campaign has been going on for a particularly long time," he said.

But as I said yesterday, we feel that our air campaign has been about 80 percent successful.

But he may also decide to ride out an air campaign.

"They came out with an agreement that the air campaign is working."

It was two weeks after the start of the air campaign when the bombing got serious.

The air campaign began last night and will continue to the end.