Length: 745 words headline: mideast at a glance; a roundup of the latest developments byline

LOOKING AHEAD: Diplomats at the United Nations said the United States would present a new resolution today offering a political settlement of the war, including the lifting of economic sanctions but the retention of an arms embargo against Iraq as long as Saddam stays in power.

FORCE PLANS: A larger U.S. military presence will be maintained in the region than in the past, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney predicted, but not a "major, long-term ground presence."

GOING HOME: "It took seven months to get in. It's going to take many months to get out," White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said. The rotation plan calls for sending troops home by unit on a first-in, first- out basis.

BALANCE OF POWER: The Pentagon said allied air and ground forces destroyed or captured about 4,000 of the 4,280 Iraqi tanks present in the Kuwaiti theatre and knocked out or rendered ineffective 40 of the 42 Iraqi divisions on hand. Only three U.S. tanks were reported destroyed or damaged.

CHECKPOINTS: Iraqi soldiers straggling north from Kuwait to Basra were screened at checkpoints by allied troops looking for members of units suspected of atrocities in Kuwait.

VIOLATIONS: Allied officials reported some cease-fire violations, including one in which Iraqi gunners fired on 8th Airborne Corps troops retrieving the bodies of U.S. airmen killed in a helicopter crash. The Americans fired back and destroyed two tanks and two rocket launchers. Other clashes were reported with isolated Iraqi troops bypassed during the allied advance.

MISSING KUWAITIS: Kuwait's ambassador to the United Nations said Iraq had failed to cooperate in disclosing the condition or whereabouts of 22,000 abducted Kuwaiti civilians and 8,632 Kuwaiti prisoners of war.

IRAQI AID: The European Community authorized a grant of $ 675,000 in emergency aid to Iraqi civilians suffering because of the gulf war.

GERMAN REACTION: The Bavarian town of Oberammergau, which stages the famous Passion Play every 10 years, will offer free vacations to U.S. veterans of the gulf war, a military newspaper reported. Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Neu-Ulm offered free public transportation and tickets to swimming pools, zoos and ice rinks.

SOVIET REACTION: Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh said "the time was ripe" to settle other Middle East problems, including the Palestinian question.

PLO REACTION: Yasser Abd Rabbo, a top official of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said, "All efforts should from now on be deployed with the view of resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict."

IRANIAN REACTION: Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati warned the United States not to interfere further in the region, saying Iraqi aggression had to be challenged, "but not by people who never did or will ever consider the interests of Islam and the Muslims."

ISRAELI REACTION: Israeli President Chaim Herzog said, "I won't feel that the work is done if Saddam continues in his job as president of Iraq."

MISSING NEWSMEN: Lt. Gen. Thomas Kelly, director of operations for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said captured CBS correspondent Bob Simon and his three-man crew "will receive the same consideration" as military prisoners in repatriation negotiations. The four disappeared Jan. 21 near the Kuwaiti border. CBS has said it confirmed they are being held in Baghdad.

TROOP SALUTE: The Pentagon, determined that gulf war troops get the welcome-home salute denied to Vietnam veterans, has begun planning a homecoming ceremony in the nation's capital, military officials said.

From staff and wire reports

ISRAELI REACTION: President Chaim Herzog said, "I won't feel that the work is done if Saddam continues in his job as president of Iraq.

IRANIAN REACTION: Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati warned the United States not to interfere further in the region.

MISSING KUWAITIS: Kuwait's ambassador to the United Nation said Iraq had failed to cooperate in disclosing the condition or whereabouts of 22,000 abducted Kuwaiti civilians and 8.632 Kuwaiti prisoners of war.