BAGHDAD, July 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S and British warplanes coming from bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia continue to violate Iraqi airspace, reported the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Saturday.

A spokesman for Iraqi Air Defense Command told INA that the warplanes, supported by AWACS violated Iraq airspace on Friday and carried out 28 sorties from bases in Kuwait.

The spokesman said that the warplanes flew over areas of Artawi, Afek, Bissiya, Jeleba, Jebayish, Nassiriya, Shatra, Rafa’I, Qal’at Suker, alhay, Lassif, Ashbicha, Samawa and Salman.

Since December 1998 up to July 12, 2002, the U.S. and British warplanes carried out a total of 40368 sorties from Saudi, Kuwaiti and Turkish airspace, of which 13932 sorties came from Kuwaiti airspace, the spokesman said, reported INA.

However, in remarks published on Friday in the Al Rai al Aam newspaper, Kuwait Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah said that Kuwait will not accept to serve as a launching pad for a U.S. attack on Iraq.

“The mission of U.S. troops deployed in Kuwait is well known ... It is to defend our land and national sovereignty ... Kuwait does not agree to an attack on Iraq being launched from its territory," al-Sabah told the daily.

"There is no truth to press reports that Washington has concluded intensive negotiations with Kuwait about using its territory and airspace to carry out an attack on Iraq and topple (President) Saddam Hussein," he said.

"Nothing of the sort happened," the Kuwaiti minister said, referring to a news report that the United States has been in contact with four regional states, including Kuwait, to use their territories and airspace for an attack on Iraq.

On Thursday, Jordan also dismissed a stream of foreign press reports suggesting it could be used as a base for a U.S. strike on Iraq.

The ex-President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Mikhail Gorbachev, issued a clear warning to the U.S. and U.K. saying “do not attack Iraq”, reported Russian newspaper Pravda.

According to the paper’s website Gorbachev said that such an attack could destroy the coalition against terror and threaten world peace.

Gorbachev said that he hopes that the voice of diplomacy will rule the day: “I hope the United States and Britain will not be fighting a war in the Middle East. They should be using political measures, not military”, he said, adding that “the right approach to this issue can only be developed in coordination with the United States and Russia, as co-sponsors of the peace process, the European Union and the Arab countries. They should all work together”.

Meanwhile, a pro-Iraqi organization, Congress of Arab Popular Forces, urged Arabs on Friday to strike U.S. interests should Washington carry out its threats to attack Iraq, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

"Political parties, parliaments, trade unions and all nationalist, Islamist and leftist (organizations) across the Arab world and among Arabs in exile should stage protests ... and prepare to resist any aggression against Iraq," said a statement by the secretariat of the organization.

"They should consider U.S. interests and the (U.S.) presence, as well as the allies and agents who assist (Washington), a target in responding firmly to the forces of evil and strike them with all available means," said the statement obtained by AFP.

The Congress of Arab Popular Forces, a non-governmental organization, groups a number of Arab political parties, trade unions and other groups that consider themselves nationalist.

Its Secretary General, Saad Qassem Hammudi, is a senior official in Iraq's ruling Baath Party and a former information minister.

The group's statement also called on Iraq's neighbors to make clear where they stand on reported plans to use their territory as a springboard for a U.S. military offensive against Iraq, saying silence in such conditions amounted to "complicity."