Although some analysts put the Arab regimes' low profile down to fear of antagonising Washington, others said officials are worried that Iran might be behind a revolt by militiamen loyal to a radical Iraqi Shia cleric.

Arab satellite televisions have pointed out that most Arab governments have not reacted to a bloody US assault on the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, or to clashes between coalition forces and partisans of Moqtada Sadr in the south.

And for those Arab regimes that did react, their words were far weaker than those of Russia, which Friday called on the US-led coalition to refrain from "disproportionate" use of force and halt its offensive.

"Arab governments are keen on having good relations with the United States," said Mustafa Kamel al-Said, a lecturer at the faculty of economy and political science at Cairo University.

"Some Arab governments depend on the United States for financial assistance, others are having problems with Washington and want to improve their relationship," he said.

Given that "most Arab regimes are not democratic," Said said that they feel threatened by Washi-ngton's "Greater Middle East Initiative," a reform plan to spread democracy and economic liberalisation in the Middle East.

But Waheed Abdul Megeed, from the Al-Ahram Centre of Strategic Studies, disagreed, pointing out that several Arab countries, including US allies such as Egypt, did oppose the US-led invasion of Iraq one year ago.

"What is happening now in Iraq, he said, delays the hand over of sovereignty to the Iraqis," slated for June 30, under a timetable agreed by the US-led coalition and Iraqi politicians, and endorsed by the United Nations.

Megeed said several Arab regimes consider "Iran to have instigated the movement of Moqtada Sadr" to wrestle control of some southern cities from Bulgarian, Salvadorian, Spanish and Ukranian coalition control.

He said hardliner conservatives who ousted reformists in Iran's controversial February elections "want to drag the US forces in Iraq to a swamp, in order to prevent Washington from turning against Iran" later on.

Meanwhile, Arab newspapers yesterday compared the US assault on the Iraqi town of Fallujah to Israel's 2002 offensive against the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, and likened US overseer Paul Bremer to Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz. "In the first week of April 2002, Israeli occupation troops committed a horrible massacre in Jenin. In the first week of April 2004, American occupation soldiers committed a human massacre in Fallujah which is still continuing," said Saudi Arabia's Al-Jazeera daily.

"In both massacres, F-16s and Apaches were used, which caused the death and destruction of man and civilisation," it said.

The same comparison was made by the Emirati daily Al-Khaleej.