All of Saudi Arabia's dailies splashed big front-page headlines with "Baghdad Falls ... Saddam Disappears", "Search On For Saddam", "Saddam Hussein's Regime Collapses."

"Good news finally," Al-Watan said. "War is dying in Iraq and the regime and its men have disappeared. What remains is to announce future plans which should reduce tension in the region."

Saddam's destiny "will be the fate of any dictator who kills his own people, oppresses them and steals their wealth. Had the people been with Saddam Hussein, no power ... would have been able to occupy Iraq," Al-Youm said.

But other Saudi papers warned of far-reaching consequences if law and order were not etablished.

"The absence of authority is a very dangerous matter ... The presence of different teams may create chaos ... which may develop into something similar to civil war," Al-Riyadh said.

The Saudi Gazette said "using force to achieve stability in Iraq would turn the supposed 'forces of liberation' into forces of oppression."

Kuwait's Al-Rai al-Aam said the "fall of Baghdad should be the beginning of a new patriotic, free, Arab and democratic Iraq. We want Iraq to have full sovereignty over its land.

"Iraqis are required to establish a broad democratic national assembly in Baghdad to enhance their sovereignty and unity and absolute administration of their country's wealth," it said.

Arab Times said: "Saddam's militias were defeated as Iraqis gained strength from allied forces, which came to liberate them and rescue them from oppression practised by the tyrant regime."

Under a front-page headline reading, "'Our' Liberation Complete", it added: "There is no other explanation for the magnificent victory of the allied forces except to say Iraqis were not with the Baath party ... The Iraqi army decided to abandon the Baath authority when it was falling and unworthy of sacrifice."

Al-Watan quoted Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah as saying "Congratulations for Iraqis on their liberation," but adding that the war was not yet over.

Elsewhere, the Dubai-based Gulf News said it was obvious "most Iraqis are overjoyed at the release of the suppression under which they have lived for the past 35 years."

Now "the rule of Saddam and his cohorts ... is a thing of the past, the real work of winning over the populace has to begin."

Gulf Today, also from the Emirates, called the jubilation on Baghdad's streets an "outpouring of 24 years of suppressed anger against a regime that pushed the country to three wars and a decade of crippling sanctions."

Washington's restrained celebration was because "it may have won the war, but it is yet to win the peace."

"Bush should quickly ensure that Iraq's political centre does not implode into chaos leaving a chaotic power vacuum," it said, calling on a democratic say for the Iraqi people to ensure stability.

"It is necessary to ensure a major role for the United Nations in post-Saddam Iraq. Bush should invite the UN quickly as otherwise his 'victory' would remain not only illegitimate but also lack moral substance.

The Sharjah-based paper also called for the establishment of a national truth commission as in South Africa to "hasten reconciliation."

"The future of Iraq must be decided by the Iraqis and not others," added Al-Ittihad of the United Arab Emirates.

Qatar's Al-Watan urged Iraqis to "bandage their wounds quickly and take control of their country because it is inconceivable to see a foreign administration govern (Iraq) in the 21st century."

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