"The impact of wars is still being felt by people in the greater Gulf region years or even decades after the guns fell silent," the ICRC said in a statement on the eve of the International Day of the Disappeared.

"Thousands are still hoping to receive news of their relatives who went missing in connection with the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War or the 1990-1991 Gulf War (over Kuwait), or after armed conflict broke out in Iraq in 2003," it said.

The Iran-Iraq War is estimated to have cost one million lives on both sides, while tens of thousands more Iraqis were killed in toppled dictator Saddam Hussein's other two conflicts.

"Tens of thousands of soldiers who took part in the Iran-Iraq War, including some former prisoners of war, remain unaccounted for today," said the ICRC, which organizes exchanges of remains and provides DNA facilities.

"The families on both sides have been hoping to find out what happened to their loved ones during all these years. They have never given up hope."

The international aid agency said it "renews its call upon governments in the region to pursue their efforts to provide information on the fate of people who went missing.

"It reminds the authorities on all sides of their commitment to fulfilling their obligations under international humanitarian law, clarifying the fate of all persons still unaccounted for and providing answers for the families."

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama's message this weekend that Iraq would "chart its own course" has fueled anxieties about the future among Iraqis.

"The war is not ending. The war against terrorism continues here," Nuri Al-Moussawi, a 51-year-old Baghdad resident, said. Obama said Saturday the end of US combat operations on Tuesday and a fall in US troop numbers to 50,000 helped fulfill a promise he made during the 2008 presidential campaign to end the 7-1/2-year war launched by his predecessor, George W. Bush.

But the failure of Iraqi leaders to form a new government almost six months after elections, and persistent attacks by insurgents, have done little to instill confidence among Iraqis.

"The American withdrawal is hasty. The capabilities of our army have not been built yet," Moussawi said.