Washington ? The Pentagon assessed the damage Thursday from its initial strikes against targets in Iraq and primed for a broader assault involving 250,000 U.S. and coalition forces.

The war’s opening salvos were aimed directly at Iraq’s leaders, including Saddam Hussein.

Commanders relied on more than 40 cruise missiles launched from Navy ships and submarines in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and 2,000-pound precision-guided bombs dropped by Air Force stealth fighter jets, military officials said.

“For our part and in simple terms, we have been directed to conduct combat operations into Iraq,” Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem told the crew of the USS Harry Truman battle group as it sailed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea before the initial strikes. He said the attack would include tomahawk missiles fired from the ships in the battle group and aircraft launched from carrier flight decks.

With 300,000 U.S. and coalition troops still encircling Iraq, the strikes were a small prelude to a massive assault that was to begin as early as Thursday, said two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A helicopter carrying U.S. special forces crashed inside southern Iraq hours before the missile strikes Wednesday night, a senior defense official said. There were no casualties and the troops on board were all taken out safely, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said the military was taking steps to destroy the helicopter rather than let it fall into Iraqi hands.

The incident makes clear the Pentagon was using a well-worn war tactic of dropping special commando forces behind enemy lines before the opening of the rest of the campaign.

Officials declined to say exactly where the crash occurred. But a widely discussed part of the war plan has been to send special forces into the country to secure oil wells, suspected chemical weapons sites and other strategic locations — as well as to search out Iraqi leadership.

The defense official also said a small plane headed from Iraq toward a Marine expeditionary force position in Kuwait but crashed short of its mark. The Marines donned gas masks because of fears that the plane could have been carrying chemical weapons, the official said. No agents were detected.