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WASHINGTON (AP) The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq denounced two Arab television stations Monday, accusing them of lying about American attacks in the city of Fallujah.

Army Gen. John Abizaid said Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya were broadcasting false reports that American troops were deliberately targeting civilians in Fallujah.

The predominantly Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad has been the site of fighting between insurgents and American troops after a mob mutilated the bodies of American security contractors killed in a March 30 ambush.

"They have not been truthful in their reporting," Abizaid said of the two television stations. "They haven't been accurate. And it is absolutely clear that American forces are doing their very best to protect civilians and at the same time get at the military targets there."

Anti-American protests erupted Friday in Cairo among crowds who supported the Fallujah insurgents. Jordan's King Abdullah, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, sent relief supplies to the city, saying Fallujah was subject to "blockade, killing and destruction."

About 600 Iraqi dead, mostly civilians, were recorded by the main hospital and four clinics in Fallujah, hospital director Rafie al-Issawi told The Associated Press. U.S. officials say most of the dead probably were insurgents.

A tenuous cease-fire declared by the Americans in Fallujah appeared to be holding Monday, said Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. ground troops in Iraq.