The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mr Mohammad Said al Sahhaf, wrapped up a regional tour in Beirut yesterday with a call on Arab nations not to serve as "launching pads" for a US military strike on his country.
Mr Sahhaf left Beirut aboard a private jet for Paris where he is due to hand over a message to President Jacques Chirac from President Saddam Hussein and meet the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan.
Mr Sahhaf, after talks with Lebanese leaders, said Iraq would do everything possible to ensure the success of a diplomatic mission to Baghdad by Mr Annan.
"We are doing our utmost to help Annan's mission succeed. We are in daily contact with Annan to provide him with the objective basis for the success of his mission," said Mr Sahhaf.
Mr Sahhaf, after separate meetings with the Lebanese Prime Minister, Mr Rafic Hariri, and the House speaker, Mr Nabih Berri, said the results of diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis between Iraq and the United Nations should be clear within five days.
Mr Sahhaf also called on Arab countries, particularly Kuwait, not to allow their territory to be used as a "launching pad" for attacks against Iraq.
"We are neither threatening nor expressing a wish. On the contrary, we are asking our brothers, including the Kuwaitis, not to be a launching pad for arms that risk killing Iraqi women and children," Mr Sahhaf said.
"Whoever is now opening his land to the Americans to shed the blood of Iraqi women and children will have to bear the consequences of his crime," he added after a meeting with his Lebanese counterpart, Mr Fares Bweiz. Mr Sahhaf was on the final leg of a regional tour aimed at rallying Arab support for Baghdad's position. He started his tour in Damascus and has also visited Cairo and Amman.
Lebanon has joined most Arab countries in opposing a military strike. On Friday, Mr Hariri warned that a regional war could break out in the "coming days," while Mr Bweiz said a strike would "lead the region into the unknown." Meanwhile in Baghdad, Qatar's Foreign Minister presented a message from the Qatari emir to President Saddam yesterday in the highest level visit by a Gulf official to Baghdad since the 1991 war over Kuwait.
Sheikh Hamad ibn Jassim ibn al Thani relayed a verbal message from Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad ibn Khalifa al Thani about "developments in the situation in the Gulf region," the official Iraqi news agency INA reported.
The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Tariq Aziz, took part in the meeting, the agency said.
The official Qatari news agency QNA said that the message to Mr Saddam concerned "Doha's point of view on the crisis between Iraq and the United Nations" over weapons inspections.
The Qatar envoy said before meeting Mr Saddam that his "presence in Baghdad was part of efforts by Doha to try to reach a diplomatic solution" in the crisis.
"We want to be able to reach (a diplomatic solution) in a way which satisfies all the parties," official Iraqi television quoted the envoy as saying.
Mr Aziz said that Baghdad "favourably welcomes a brother from Qatar, with whom we will examine the situation and we hope to reach a solution in a way which spares the region any misfortune," according to the television.
Sheikh Hamad is the first foreign minister from a Gulf monarchy to visit Iraq since the Gulf War of 1991, when an international coalition forced Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.
QNA said that the Qatari foreign minister flew to Baghdad - which is subject to an air traffic embargo under UN sanctions - aboard a flight authorised by the United Nations.
Qatar, whose diplomatic relations with Iraq have warmed since the Gulf War, has repeatedly called for a peaceful solution to the crisis and denied the use of its bases for a possible US-led attack on Iraq.
A Qatar Airways aircraft loaded with humanitarian aid flew to Iraq on Saturday.