Support for Saddam Hussein across the Arab world has grown since his execution, galvanising anger against Iraq’s Shiite-led government, which the United States has hoped the region would support.

Arab media reacted cautiously to the beheading of an American civilian on a video issued by an associate of Osama bin Laden, with some newspapers conspicuously playing it down or even ignoring it.

IRAQI President Saddam Hussein, in one of the few interviews he has given since the Gulf War, warned the United States and Britain that attacking Iraq would not be “a picnic” for their invading soldiers.