Iraq's neighbours were expected to step up tensions between the US and the Arab world by declaring their support for Syria yesterday.
They had met for a summit to discuss their fears about the region's post-war future.
Foreign ministers from the six states bordering Iraq - Turkey, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait - were joined by representatives from Egypt and Bahrain for a meeting which Cairo and Damascus both said would demand an immediate end to the military occupation of Iraq.
The countries would discuss how to "help the Iraqi people decide their own future and choose their own government without foreign intervention", Egypt's Foreign Minister, Mr Ahmed Maher, said.
"This is Iraq, not the US, so it is normal that the government of Iraq should be Iraqi."
Several of Iraq's neighbours are apprehensive about any division of the country into ethnic enclaves. The emergence of a strong Kurdish bloc in the north is opposed by Turkey, which fears that would make it harder to control its own Kurdish minority.
A public expression of solidarity with Syria seemed likely to emerge from the summit. This follows US claims that Syria is sheltering members of Saddam Hussein's regime and developing chemical weapons.
However, there were indications that Washington might be seeking to ease the pressure. Mr Colin Powell, the US secretary of State, said he was considering a trip to Damascus.
Meanwhile, pro-American Iraqi politician Mr Ahmad Chalabi said yesterday the US should oversee post-war Iraq, and the UN lacked the capability and credibility to take a leadership role there.
At a news conference in the Iraqi Hunting Club - his first since arriving in Baghdad on Wednesday - Mr Chalabi also said he did not want a post in an interim Iraqi government and would devote himself to developing civil society.
However, the man seen by many analysts as the US choice to lead Iraq left open the question of whether he would stand as a candidate if the country held democratic elections.
"I do not think that the United Nations is either capable or has the credibility in Iraq to play a major role," he told an audience of mainly Western reporters on his first visit to Baghdad since the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958.
"And the moral imperative is on the side of the United States, and the Iraqi people will accept a leadership role for the United States in this process," he said. "The United States does not want to run Iraq."
Mr Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), was the first major exile politician to reach Baghdad since the collapse of the government of Saddam Hussein. The US military flew him to the southern city of Nassariya 11 days ago, giving him a head start over other exile politicians. -