World leaders condemned the launch of a US-led war against Iraq and pleaded for civilians to be spared, with some accusing Washington of flouting international law by striking Baghdad without UN backing.

A Chilean peace activist holdS a candle during an anti-war protest in Santiago, March 20, 2003. Hundreds of Chilean anti-war activists participated in an protest aganist the military attack on Iraq launched by the U.S.. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

"France regrets this action undertaken without the approval of the United Nations," French President Jacques Chirac said in a televised address.

"It hopes that operations will be as rapid and as victim-free as possible and does not lead to a humanitarian catastrophe," he said.

France spearheaded opposition to the US and British push for war, vowing to veto a UN resolution that would have paved the way for military action and thus forcing the two to go it virtually alone against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Russia and Germany, firmly aligned with Paris in the anti-war camp, denounced the outbreak of war.

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin described the US-led offensive as a "serious political mistake" and called for an immediate halt to hostilities.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called war a "defeat for politics" and said "a bad decision was taken," but in cautious comments he and top German ministers focused on post-war reconstruction of Iraq rather than heaping blame on Washington.

"This is bitter news," Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said. "We hope the hostilities will be completed as quickly as possible and that the civilian population will be protected."

China, a UN Security Council permanent member also opposed to war, appealed to the "relevant countries to stop the use of military force."

India, another nuclear power, joined Beijing in calling the US-led attack a violation of the UN Charter.

The Vatican also "deplored" Washington's move, with Cardinal Roberto Tucci, a close confidant of Pope John Paul II, saying the war went beyond "all legality and all international legitimacy".

Pope John Paul II, for months a key moral voice opposing war, "deplores that negotiations under international law to find a peaceful solution to the Iraqi drama were interrupted," his spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the United States and Britain to do everything possible to protect civilians from undue harm and suffering during their campaign to unseat Saddam.

"I hope that all parties will scrupulously observe the requirements of international humanitarian law, and will do everything in their power to shield the civilian population from the grim consequences of war," he said.

Mexico, a Security Council member heavily sollicited for support during the UN diplomatic drive, came down against its northern neighbor, with President Vicente Fox stating: "We are against the war."

Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada restricted his reaction to the hope that the conflict "will be brief, with a minimum number of victims on both sides". On Monday he had called the war "unjustified".

In the Middle East, the Palestinian Authority strongly condemned the military campaign by US President George W. Bush, warning Israel not to use the conflict as a pretext for stepping up incursions in the Palestinian territories.

Arab states Jordan and Saudi Arabia said they were worried about the conflict in the region, while others denounced Washington as tens of thousands of their citizens rallied in the streets and called for a holy war against the United States.

In Beirut, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud warned: "We see this aggression today plunging the world into a tunnel where one cannot see the end."

In Turkey, the parliament approved the right of US warplanes to use Turkish airspace although not its bases for raids against Iraq, but President Ahmet Necdet Sezer voiced opposition to the US-led war shared by the vast majority of Turks.

"I do not find the unilateral US action right", he said.

But not all reaction to the start of US-led military action against Baghdad was negative.

Australia reaffirmed its commitment to the campaign with an announcement from Prime Minister John Howard that Australian special forces had begun combat duties alongside US and British forces.

Japan and South Korea also reiterated their support for the United States.

"I understand the start of the use of force by America and support it," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in Tokyo, while South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun said he would send non-combat troops to the region.

Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq found strong backing among several eastern European states, which have been torn between their desire to join with EU neighbors to the west, and to back the US, thereby scoring points with the most influential member of the NATO.

NATO-ally Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy said the conflict with Iraq was "unavoidable", while Bulgaria, Romania, Lativa and Estonia renewed their support.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia, which have sent anti-chemical specialists to the Gulf, said however they could not join military operations because they lacked a UN mandate.

In Britain -- the closest US ally -- Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described the onset of war as the last chapter of Saddam's iron-fisted rule, and the beginning of Iraq's liberation.

"We are with you. We support you," Straw told a press conference, in remarks directed at the Iraqi people. "We want to see your suffering come to an end."

Spain, a strong voice in the pro-war coalition, said international law would be strengthened by Saddam's ouster. "The government of this nation supports the re-establishment of international law so that conditions for peace and security prevail," Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said.

And in Italy, where hundreds of thousands of anti-war protesters greeted the first day of war, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called the disarmament of Iraq "a tragic necessity" for the international community.

Copyright 2003 AFP

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