The two countries are maintaining their military presence in the region, with the UK sending an aircraft carrier, HMS Invincible, to the Gulf.

Rageh Omaar: "The Iraqi government continues to spit defiance"

The UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said this was part of the strategy to keep Saddam Hussein "caged".

In comments to the media, Mr Blair repeatedly stressed the need to keep Saddam Hussein, "in his cage".

"But just because we can't get in the cage and strike him down, it doesn't mean we should leave the cage untouched and the bars too fragile to hold him," he added.

Kate Adie reports from Kuwait where "the state of readiness will remain high"

But Mr Blair said considerable damage had been done to Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programme.

His comments were echoed by the US American Defence Secretary William Cohen.

Mr Cohen said Washington expected Iraq to try to repair or rebuild facilities destroyed in the raids, so the US would maintain its military capability in the Gulf.

Saddam Hussein: Iraq fought another "mother of battles"

Despite the strikes, President Saddam Hussein remains defiant. In a television address he told Iraqis they had achieved victory against their enemies.

"Your courage ... has awoken those who were sleeping, the many weak in the Arab world," he said in a taped address broadcast on a Qatari satellite television station.

'Objectives achieved'

The US and UK maintain Operation Desert Fox has achieved its objectives.

In London the Ministry of Defence produced a detailed series of maps, showing the Iraqi targets attacked.

In Washington, President Clinton stated: "We have inflicted significant damage on (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's) weapons of mass destruction programmes, on the command structures that direct and protect that capability, and on his military and security infrastructure."

Blair: Over 400 cruise missiles were involved

Both President Clinton and Mr Blair have spoken of their wish to see the UN weapons inspectors returning to Iraq.

But the prospects of this happening have already been dashed by Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramada, who said the inspectors were "history".

"Anything related to inspections, monitoring and weapons of mass destruction is behind us," he declared.

Iraq says the Ministry of Social Affairs was hit

"If they believe these (weapons) are there, they have already hit them all." The inspectors, Mr Ramadan added, were a "commission of spies".

Iraqi state radio claimed "victory" on Sunday, playing patriotic songs of triumph but did not announce the end of the air war.

France, which did not support the air strikes, has called for a "profound review" of the relationship between the UN and Iraq.

President Jacques Chirac said: "France is ready to make an important contribution, a positive contribution towards the necessary end to the crisis."

Four day campaign

The bomb and missile campaign began last Wednesday and lasted 70 hours.

Funeral services have been held for 68 people that Iraqi officials say were killed in the raids.

But Iraq's Ambassador to the UN, Nizar Hamdoon, said: "I'm told that the casualties are in the thousands in terms of numbers of people who were killed or wounded."

Officials in Washington said Iraqi missile development had been set back by a year or more.

The Pentagon reported 97 sites had been struck and produced aerial photographs of damaged missile production facilities, collapsed Republican Guard barracks and a large government building in Baghdad hit by three cruise missiles.

Many of the missiles and bombs were aimed at the Republican Guards, who Washington says are essential to keeping Saddam Hussein in power and guarding his programme of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.