Paul Royal reports on the world's reaction

President Yeltsin described events as "unacceptable" and "fraught with the most dramatic consequences", whilst Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who has many links within the Gulf region, said the bombardment of Iraq was "outrageous".

Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said the decision to proceed with strikes raised questions about Moscow's cooperation with Nato as agreed to last year. "What kind of co-operation and partnership is possible to talk about with the Alliance if Russia's opinion is openly ignored?" he said.

China, another permanent member of the UN Security Council, joined Russian calls for an immediate end to hostilities with President Jiang Zemin condemning the "unilateral" action of the US and UK.

China's UN ambassador Qin Huasun: "There is absolutely no excuse"

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said an end to military actions would "avoid escalation of the conflict and causing additional civilian casualties."

President Yeltsin's press service said that the Russian leader had spoken to Mr Jiang by telephone and agreed that the action was a "direct challenge to the authority of the Security Council and its member states."

Europe split

Russian protesters vent their fury

France, also a permanent member of the UN Security Council, distanced itself from the US action, saying that it had wanted to avoid military action "at all costs".

The government criticised both Baghdad and Washington for the "the spiral of events that led to the American military strikes against Iraq and the grave human consequences they could have on the Iraqi population".

It said it regretted that Iraq had failed to "prove a complete spirit of co-operation" despite its agreement with the UN in February to allow Unscom arms inspections to resume.

Peter Biles: Strong criticism from China and Russia

Austria, which currently holds the presidency of the European Union, backed military action and blamed Baghdad for creating the crisis.

Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder also supported the US and UK, saying the strikes were "the consequence of the obstinate refusal of Saddam Hussein to co-operate". The Netherlands too added its support.

Malaysian protesters add their voice

Portugal said it was standing with the US and UK while Spain said it deplored the use of force but the events were "inevitable".

However, Italy said it would ask Washington and London to end strikes and let the United Nations deal with the crisis. A member of one of the ruling coalition parties said the government would face a delicate problem if Italian bases were needed for strikes on Iraq.

Sense of inevitablity

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan: "This is a sad day"

Elsewhere Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi of Japan also gave his support, saying that Iraq's determination to hold weapons of mass destruction threatened world peace.

"It is deeply regrettable, but Iraq failed to co-operate with Unscom, which has brought the situation to this pass," he said.

French protesters take their message to the US embassy in Paris

A spokesman for Turkey, one of Iraq's neighbours, said the events were "saddening" and it hoped that the action would be "short".

Other regional states came down more firmly against the action. Iran described the attacks as "unacceptable", although Saudi Arabia blamed Iraq's failure to comply with UN resolutions for the strikes.

India, Cuba and Vietnam were amongst those backing Russian and Chinese calls for a halt to the raids, accusing the US and UK of undermining the United Nations. But Canada, Australia and South Korea all voiced support for the raids.