PICTURES of heartbreak and misery as thousands of refugees pour out of war ravaged Kosovo bring home to all of us the tragedy of the latest Balkans war.

In the light of such images the cries now being heard for a halt to NATO's air offensive were inevitable.

But ifthe evil ethnic cleansing being inflicted by the Serbs on Kosovo is to be stopped, the NATO alliance must hold its nerve.

There can be no turning back now. If the strike aircraft are withdrawn Slobodan Milosevic and the bunch of thugs who make up his government will read it as a signal to obliterate the hapless Kosovo Albanians.

It would be seen by them as a victory for their sickening Nazi-style tactics which have already led to the biggest exodus from a European country since the Second World War.

It has to be remembered that it was not the NATO offensive which triggered the Serbs' ruthless attempt to crush Kosovo.

That started months ago. It was because villages were being torched, young men butchered and whole communities terrorised and forced from their homes that NATO issued its warnings,

They were ignored by Milosevic.

He and his henchmen are the ones responsible for what is happening in Serbia and Kosovo - and they must be made to pay for it. They are war criminals, as sick-minded and evil as anything Nazi Germany's regime produced before and during the Second World War.

They have tasted blood and appear to enjoy it. And the only way to persuade them that there is no long-term future in their terror tactics is to hit them even harder.

NATO is now switching from targeting air defence complexes to tanks and troops. Deadly A-10 tankbusters are being added to the NATO range of weaponry.

Maybe when the men who make up Milosevic's killing squads find themselves on the wrong end of the ferocious seven barrel cannon of an A-10 they will have second thoughts about their leader's blood lust.

Maybe they will realise that there are people out there who will not stand by and tolerate the massacre of thousands of innocent men, women and children.

If the NATO air strikes trigger a rebellion from within the ranks of Milosevic's forces and make him step down, they will have been justified.

Air power on its own will not take out every Serb thug armed with a rifle or petrol bomb, but it can make life so uncomfortable for the rank and file that they will tell their leaders they have had enough.

One thing is certain. NATO must not withdraw at this stage. That would condemn the Kosovo Albanians to certain annihilation and give Milosevic the sick victory he craves.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.