An Iraqi exile told last night how he wants to be on the first plane back to his homeland after the fall of Baghdad.

Amer Albazaz, who is now living in Telscombe Cliffs, was transfixed as he watched his countrymen join American forces in toppling a statue of Saddam Hussein on TV yesterday.

Only 12 months ago, he was in Iraq as the statue was erected to mark the dictator's birthday.

He said: "They were just putting the statue up and I was gazing at the size of it. It was massive."

Mr Albazaz is now facing an anxious wait to find out if his family has survived the war.

He has two sisters in Baghdad, two brothers in Karbala and dozens of nieces, nephews and cousins in Hilla and Najaf.

All the cities have been targeted by coalition forces, with Baghdad bearing the brunt of the US "shock-and-awe" bombing campaign.

Mr Albazaz last spoke to his family three weeks ago, before the Iraqi telephone exchange was bombed and civilians were left with no communication with the outside world.

He said: "Before the war began I was speaking to them twice a day but I have no contact at all now.

"They have no shelters when the bombs come so they just huddle together in a corner of the room and hope they don't get hit."

Mr Albazaz said he hoped there would now be an end to the bloodshed and that the United States and the UK would let the United Nations help set up an interim government.

In the meantime, he is planning as soon as possible to find out how his relatives are doing.

He said he was pleased for the Iraqis who celebrated Saddam's demise but felt for the thousands killed in the conflict.

Amer moved to Sussex in the early Seventies when he was invited to complete a mechanical engineering degree and masters at the University of Brighton.

While a student, he met his future wife Susan and the couple have three children.

He described the war as devastating and said his life has not been the same since it began.

He said: "I am a nervous wreck. I cannot sleep at night because I am terrified about what may be happening to my family. It is appalling."

Missing his family, Amer moved back to Iraq with his wife and children in 1986.

Within weeks of arriving he was ordered to join the army.

He was forced into exile after deserting his post and escaping over the border and returning to England.

Another Iraqi now contemplating a trip home is Mohammed Ala-alou, 19, studying robotic cybernetics at University of Sussex.

His father was private secretary to Saddam Hussein until he fell out of favour with the dictator.

Mr Ala-alou and his family, who still have homes and cars in central Baghdad, fled to the UK in 1998 and are living in Crawley.

He said: "I will probably continue living here but I would like to take a holiday to Iraq."

Mr Ala-alou watched joyous scenes in his home city on TV yesterday. He said: "It will be much better for the Iraqi people now they are liberated from Saddam."

Meanwhile, anti-war demonstrators made another stand by daubing the word "Peace" in giant letters on the side of a hill.

The graffiti was daubed on the grass for all motorists to see near the junction of the A23 and the A281 near Pyecombe.

It appeared two weeks after a similar slogan was put on Mount Caburn, Lewes, made to look like the Long Man of Wilmington.