Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi said Wednesday that the ongoing "resistance" to the US-led forces in Iraq was legitimate, while condemning acts of violence perpetrated in the country.
"The resistance of the Iraqis to occupation is a legitimate right, especially as the reasons for the occupation have evaporated," the official Jana news agency quoted Gadhafi as saying.
"What is happening now in Iraq, whether on the side of the occupier or the resistance is reprehensible," added the Libyan leader, speaking with a group of former army colleagues.
"The resistance should avoid all acts which could be qualified as terrorist," he said.
Libya and the United States resumed direct diplomatic relations in June, after a gap of 24 years, following Tripoli's announcement of a programme to destroy its weapons of mass destruction.
However Washington has only opened a liaison office in the Libyan capital, not a fuly-fledged embassy, while Libya still appears on the US list of countries supporting international terrorism.
Libya took another step back into the international fold on Wednesday with a visit to Tripoli by French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.