Morocco deplores U.S. - British strikes against Iraq

Morocco deplores the U.S. - British air strikes against Iraq and renews attachment to the respect of Iraq's territorial integrity and sovereignty, said Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi.

"Morocco deplores the recent air strikes against Iraq," Youssoufi, said at a dinner banquet he hosted on Saturday in honor of visiting Indian Prime Minister Atal Vajpayee.

Youssoufi also renewed Morocco's attachment to the respect of Iraq's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

"(Morocco) stands for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of that Arab country," he said.

The Prime Minister also called for "lifting the embargo imposed on Iraq in order to end the suffering inflicted on its innocent civilian population."

Iraq has been the target of regular U.S-British blitzes since last December, when Washington and London started striking Iraq under the pretext that it did not fully cooperate with the United Nations weapons inspectors.

In a related development, King Hassan II received on Friday in Marrakesh (southern Morocco), Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Said Al-Sahhaf, who is touring several Arab countries to win their support in the showdown between Baghdad and Washington.

"We have asked for Morocco's backing to decry the no-fly zones imposed on Iraq," the Iraqi official, who had already visited Algeria, Libya and Tunisia, told the press before leaving Marrakesh.

"I explained to his majesty (King Hassan II) that the U.S and British decision to impose no-fly zones was illegal and illegitimate," the Iraqi official said.