Iolo ap Dafydd BBC Wales correspondent

Vehicles are being cleaned up after a sandstorm

He is accompanying the Queens Dragoon Guards, a largely Welsh tank regiment which is gearing up to begin operations once Wednesday's sandstorm has blown over.

We have the usual confusion on the eve of war - we've had some reports, unconfirmed, that some British troops and American troops have crossed into the demilitarized zone.

We can't verify that but I can tell you that here in the hotel in Kuwait City we've been told that there are certain areas near the border which are now off-limits, so a lot of guessing as to when this war will start.

We won't see a repeat of what happened in the Gulf War of 1991 when there was a concerted bombing campaign in the beginning, and soldiers and troops on the ground moving in afterwards.

1st QUEEN'S DRAGOON GUARDS History:- Has roots in units formed by James II in 1685 Modern regiment formed in January 1959 Comprises troops from Wales, Herefordshire and Shropshire Duty:- Ypres, 1914-15 Somme, 1916-18 Afghanistan, 1914 El Alamein Kosovo, 1999 Foot-and-mouth, 2001 Queen Mother's funeral, 2002 Tearful send-off for troops Soldiers head for Gulf Guards on Kosovo mission

I think the idea this time is to move the quality of troops and equipment that they have into Iraq as soon as possible and that's why the Dragoon Guards, amongst other regiments on the border now, are waiting for that initial command to move in.

I was literally in the middle of a desert storm this morning - it's still dusty and it's still quite gusty as well, which throws up two options for the armed forces.

The first option: Are they massing on the border and waiting to go in at the end of the 48-hour deadline?

It will be 4am here when the deadline is up, and the element of surprise has gone. The Iraqis might well be expecting and attack tonight or tomorrow.

'Regiments'

The second option which I think is probably more feasible is for the armed forces to sit back because after the dust storm we've had today, they will have to clean their equipment and they will have to make sure that everything is in working order before moving in.

... so it might be a little bit later than we're anticipating, it might even be after Friday.

I think certain regiments, certain units, have already received their commands.

They've been told who's going in, who's supporting them,

We know there are only a handful of British regiments which will take part in the initial attack.

After that, I think we will see possibly other regiments moving in."