The first dispatch as bombs rained down on Baghdad

Twenty years ago, the Iraq war began with the bombardment of its capital - and Robert Fisk was there to witness it all

- Robert Fisk

For more than 30 years, Robert Fisk reported on conflict across the Middle East for The Independent, and few moments were as consequential as the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom - that first night of "shock and awe" that marked the beginning of a disastrous war.

On 20 March 2003, as American bombs rained on Baghdad, Fisk who died in 2020 aged 74 was there to witness it all. With unparalleled insight, his reports capture the fear and bemusement of Iraqis in the face of terror, and the unknowable brutality of the conflict that lay ahead of them. Here are his dispatches, as published in 'The Independent' on 21 March 2003.

Bubbles of fire tore into the sky

It was like a door slamming deep beneath the surface of the earth; a pulsating, minute-long roar of sound that brought President George Bush's supposed crusade against "terrorism" to Baghdad last night.

There was a thrashing of tracer on the horizon from the Baghdad air defences - the Second World War-era firepower of old Soviet anti-aircraft guns - and then a series of tremendous vibrations that had the ground shaking under our feet. Bubbles of fire tore into the sky around the Iraqi capital, dark red at the base, golden at the top.

Saddam Hussein, of course, has vowed to fight to the end but in Baghdad last night, there was a truly Valhalla quality about the violence. Within minutes, looking out across the Tigris river I could see pin-pricks of fire as bombs and cruise missiles exploded on to Iraq's military and communications centres and, no doubt, upon the innocent as well.