The Iraqi National Assembly (parliament) demanded on November 10 that the UN Security Council lift the embargo on Iraq, abrogate the so-called no-fly zones in the country and stop the US-British military aggression against it.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Iraqi parliament stressed that the Iraqi MPs fully reject the British-Dutch draft proposal currently under discussion at the Security Council, and that there is no alternative to the total lifting of the embargo imposed on Iraq nine years ago.

The British-Dutch proposal recommends a conditional suspension of sanctions on Iraq after Baghdad allows an enlarged weapons inspection body to return and puts its oil revenues under the UN control.

The Iraqi parliament condemned the stand of some Arab governments for their public or secret support for the continuation of the embargo and the political and financial aid to the US-British aggression against Iraq, said the statement.

The US and British warplanes taking off from Kuwaiti, Saudi and Turkish air bases have been regularly attacking Iraqi civilian and military targets in the two no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq since last December's airstrikes against the country.

The statement called upon Arab MPs to implement the resolutions of Arab Parliamentary Union conference held in Amman, Jordan last December in the wake of US-British four-night bombardment of Iraq which urged Arab governments to work for lifting sanctions on Iraq.

It lauded the humanitarian mission made by British MP George Galloway and his colleagues.

After a two-month intercontinental trip to drum up support for lifting sanctions on Iraq, Galloway's red London double-decker arrived in Bagdhad last Saturday.

The humanitarian crusade convoy has been dubbed Mariam Appeal after an Iraqi five-year-old girl Mariam Hamza suffering from leukemia who Galloway says reflects the consequences of the UN sanctions on the health of the Iraqi children.