S. Arabia supports Iraqi people to choose their own leaders Jordan supports Iraqis' rights to rule themselves: FM Over 1,000 Iraqi refugees arrive in Iranian border Saddam and son alive in Iraq: Iraqi opposition leader -US defense chief warns Syria against aiding Iraq

Over 1,000 Iraqi refugees arrive in Iranian border

TEHRAN, April 9-- More than 1,000 Iraqi refugees have arrived in the border area of Ilam Province in western Iran, Ali Zeinivand, secretary of the headquarters for Iraq crisis in the province, said on Wednesday.This has been the first group of Iraqi refugees arriving in the Iranian border since the US-led war against Iraq broke out on March20.

"The Iranian side has provided Iraqi refugees with relief aid, including food, medicine and tents," Zeinivand said, quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency."Given Iran's policy of not accepting Iraqi refugees inside the Iranian territory, the country is giving out necessary relief aid along the Iraqi borders," he said.

He said Iran needed the assistance of international humanitarianorganizations to cope with the "large number of refugees."Iran closed its western borders with Iraq before the outbreak ofthe US-led invasion in order to prevent the influx of refugees intoIran.

During the 1991 Gulf war, Iran provided shelters for some 1.3 million Iraqi refugees. Over 200,000 Iraqi refugees from that war still remained in Iran.Officials have predicted that a protracted war could unleash a flood of between 500,000 to 1.2 million Iraqi refugees to Iranian borders.

To soften its "closed door" policy, Tehran has promised to set up refugee camps on the "no man's land" near its border areas with Iraq.Ahmad Hosseini, Iranian Deputy Interior Minister, who is also incharge of dealing with Iraqi refugees, said on Sunday that Iran hadspent some 11 million US dollars and established 10 camps on borderareas capable of accommodating 400,000 refugees.

"Iran needs some 16 million dollars to establish, equip and provide necessary facilities to Iraqi refugees," Hosseini said, while blaming international humanitarian agencies for not responding to Iran's request for enough assistance.Defying international opposition, the United States and Britain launched the Iraqi war in a bid to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Iraq has denounced the invaders as "criminals" and "villains," while urging the international community to stop the "aggression" unconditionally.

200 Iraqis Killed by UK Troops in Basra

UMM QASR, Iraq, April 8 (IslamOnlin.net) - The U.K. troops in the Iraqi southern port city of Umm Qasr set up mass graves in the city to cover up hard evidence of committing massacres that claimed the lives of some 200 Iraqis in the first days of the war, unleashed on March20 , eyewitnesses told IslamOnlin.net Tuesday, April8 . "One of these graves includes seven martyrs and lies just one kilometer from the city's hospital," they confirmed. They asserted that the British troops left a lot of wounded Iraqis scattered across the streets without treatment, noting that the locals tried to treat them but were prevented by the U.K. soldiers.

"They (the U.K. troops) prevented the hospital's doctor from treating the injured and left them bleeding to death," local eyewitness told IslamOnline.net correspondent visiting Umm Qasr. According to locals, Iraqi fighters in Umm Qasr, who remained defending the small city for 10 days before its capture by the U.K. troops, were running out of supplies and resorting to the locals' homes for food. This is the fist time to unveil the mass killing of Iraqi citizens at the hands of the U.K. troops during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Iraqi fighters put up gritty resistance in Umm Qasr until it was captured by the U.K. troops.

Saddam and son alive in Iraq: Iraqi opposition leader

Chemical Ali wounded not killed

WASHINGTON, April 9 - A key Iraqi opposition leader said Wednesday that he has information that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein survived an earlier air strike in Baghdad and escaped from the capital with at least one of his sons.In an interview with CNN from Nasiriya, Iraq, Ahmad Chalabi, leader of Iraqi National Congress, said unconfirmed reports indicated that the Iraqi president had taken refuge in the city of Baqubah, northeast of the Iraqi capital.

"We have no evidence they have been killed in that attack. We know at least that Qusay, his son, has survived and he is occupying some houses in the Diyala area," Chalabi said.The same reports also indicated that Gen. Ali Hassan al-Majeed,nicknamed "Chemical Ali", was wounded but alive and in the same area with Saddam. A US B-1 bomber on Monday night dropped four specially designed2,000-pound bombs on a building in a Baghdad residential neighborhood suspected to contain Iraqi leaders, including Saddam and his tow sons.However, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Pentagon press briefing that he did not know whether Saddam was dead or alive. "He's either dead, or he's incapacitated, or he's healthy and cowering in some tunnel someplace trying to avoid being caught," Rumsfeld said.

S. Arabia supports Iraqi people to choose their own leaders

KUWAIT CITY, April 9 -- Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it seeks no role in drawing up a future Iraqi government and supports the Iraqi people to choose their own leaders, the official KUNA news agency reported. Speaking to reporters in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said his country would deal with the future Iraqi government to be chosen by the Iraqi people withinthe framework of the international legitimacy.

Saudi Arabia is keen to exert utmost efforts to maintain Iraq's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said.It is important that a government, accepted by the Iraqi people and recognized by the United Nations, would rule future Iraq on thebasis of constitutional administration, he stressed.

He also warned of the state of chaos currently prevailing in Iraqi cities, saying that would lead to the further deterioration of the situation and unprecedented human disasters. He attributed looting in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad to food shortage, while calling for an urgent international humanitarian aid for the Iraqi people. In this respect, he announced an 80-million-dollar relief aid toIraq, saying that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom will join other countries in Iraq's reconstruction process.

Jordan supports Iraqis' rights to rule themselves: FM

AMMAN, April 9 -- Jordan hopes to stand by the Iraqis by supporting their rights to rule themselves, Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher said on Wednesday. "Jordanian King Abdullah II is very much interested in having the Jordanian people standing by their Iraqi brethren at this stage, offering them every possible assistance to enable them to rule themselves," Moasher said in a statement, quoted by Jordan's official Petra news agency.

"Jordan's priority at this stage is to stand by Iraq and its people ... It is the Iraqi people and not anybody else who should determine the future of Iraq," said the statement, issued after a meeting between Moasher and EU Mideast special envoy Miguel Moratinos.

Jordan would assume its responsibility to help secure basic needs for the Iraqi people, including food and medical supplies, headded. Moasher also said it is necessary for the Arab world to play an effective role side by side with the international community and the United Nations to help Iraq in post-war era.

Moasher's remarks came at a time when looting, anarchy gripped the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Wednesday following coalition troops' thrust into the heart of the city.Amid signs of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's crippling rule, looters ransacked government buildings in Baghdad Wednesday morningwhile many residents took to the streets to welcome US troops.

The Moasher-Moratinos talks focused on the Mideast peace process, an issue that occupies the mind of every Arab "particularly with approaching of the formation of a new Palestiniangovernment," the statement said. Jordan would pursue its efforts aimed at ending Israel's occupation within a three-year timeline, it said, adding that "It is high time for eventual and serious implementation that leads to ending this occupation." Defying international opposition, the United States and Britain launched a war against Iraq on March 20 in a bid to topple Saddam.Iraq has denounced the invaders as "criminals" and "villains," while urging the international community to stop the "aggression" unconditionally.

US defense chief warns Syria against aiding Iraq

WASHINGTON, April 9-- US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday warned Syria against providing military assistance to Iraq as well as shelter for members of Iraqi regime."I have accurately advised that they not provide military assistance to Iraq, but they seem to have made a conscious decision to ignore that," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon press briefing.

"Senior regime people are moving out of Iraq into Syria and Syria is continuing to send things into Iraq," he said, noting that the United States considers Syria's move as "notably unhelpful."At the end of last month, Rumsfeld charged Syria sending military equipment, including night-vision goggles, to Iraqi forces and said the United States would hold Syria accountable forthe "hostile acts.