From prayers to protests

In Cairo, an estimated 5,000 Muslim worshippers called for a jihad, or holy war, against the United States as they emerged from Friday prayers at the prestigious Al-Azhar mosque. Al-Azhar Chief SheikhMohammad Seyyed Tantawi, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, urged God 8220;to ensure the victory of the Iraqi people against the unjust,8221; in a reference to the US and Britain.8220;With our blood and souls we will redeem you, Oh Islam8221; and 8220;Death to the enemies of God,8221; the worshippers chanted repeatedly as they emerged from the mosque. They also brandished placards reading 8220;Must the Iraqi People Die for Monica?8221; in a reference to the former White House intern whose affair with President Bill Clinton could lose him the presidency.

Lebanon also saw a day of protests against the strikes. In Beirut, 1,000 left-wing and Islamist students joined members of parliament in a demonstration outside UN headquarters. They waved photographs of Iraqi civilian casualties and shouted 8220;Iraq dear, hit, hit Tel Aviv,8221; the same slogan used by Palestinian demonstrators.

The Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim Hezbollah, which spearheads the attacks against Israeli forces in South Lebanon, organised a protest in the southerncity of Nabitiyeh in 8220;support of the Iraqi people confronted by the savage US aggression8221;. And the leader of the fundamentalist Sunni Muslim Jamaa Islamiya, Sheikh Maher Hammud, said 8220;the United States could eliminate Saddam Hussein, but they keep him in place to have an excuse to destroy the Arab and Islamic nation8221;.

After prayers at Amman8217;s University of Jordan mosque, members of the Opposition Muslim Brotherhood made a series of pro-Iraq speeches. Dozens of riot police watched as a crowd of a few hundred later demonstrated outside the mosque against the Iraq strikes. 8220;With our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Iraq,8221; chanted demonstrators who called on their neighbour not to bow to the US aggression.

In Tehran, several dozen Iranians, most of them Islamic fundamentalists, held a protest against the US-British strikes on neighbouring Iraq. In the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, demonstrators left various mosques after prayers and joined a procession towards the Iraqi embassy wherethey delivered a message of solidarity. 8220;Down with Anglo-Saxon aggression, victory to Iraq,8221;

protestors shouted, some brandishing portraits of President Saddam Hussein. quot;Down, down USA, death to Israel, shame on Clinton, Mohammad8217;s Army will return,quot; they chanted.