"This battle is the battle of (all) Arabs and Muslims, which we have the honor of waging. And we will inflict a resounding defeat on the aggressor," Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel.

"This is holy land, the land of the father of prophets ... which also had the honor of hosting" many descendants of Islam's Prophet Mohamed and his companions, he said.

"Defending this land is a sacred duty for the Iraqis because it is their land, and a sacred duty for Arabs and Muslims because it is a holy land," Sabri said.

He accused the administration of US President George W. Bush of seeking to serve "Zionist ambitions" as well as the interests of oil firms and arms manufacturers "represented by the war criminals Bush, (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld and (Vice President Dick) Cheney."

On Wednesday a statement "read on President Saddam Hussein's behalf" by Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf called for a jihad, or holy war, against the US-led forces battling their way towards his capital.

Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mahdi Saleh, for his part, charged in an interview with Al-Arabiya that the allied forces' "failure to achieve their central objectives in Iraq" had led them to "expand strikes on civilian targets," including food warehouses in Baghdad and the main southern city of Basra.

As the US-British military campaign entered its third week, US forces claimed on Thursday to be within 15 kilometers (nine miles) of downtown Baghdad and Bush reiterated that Saddam's regime would soon be finished.

But Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf denied even that US forces were at the gates of Baghdad, saying they were "not even 100 miles" from the city and were trapped in combat with Iraqi troops in every major town.

SPACE.WIRE