Iran Calls for Ceasefire, Prisoner Exchange in Israel-Lebanon Conflict
17 July 2006
Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, has called for a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, and a prisoner exchange.
Mottaki made the statement after talks in Damascus with Syria's vice president (Farouk al-Sharaa). Iran and Syria are the main backers of Hezbollah.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is traveling to Beirut Monday to meet with his Lebanese counterpart, Fouad Siniora, and express support for the Lebanese government. France traditionally has close ties to Lebanon.
United Nations envoy Vijay Nambiar says there have been "some promising first efforts" on reaching a ceasefire in his talks in Lebanon. He says he will take to Israel some "concrete ideas" on ending the fighting.
Earlier today, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for the deployment of international forces along the Israel-Lebanon border to stop cross-border attacks.
Mr. Blair spoke in St. Petersburg, after meeting with U.N. Secretary -General Kofi Annan on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit.
Israel says it is too early to consider sending such a force to the border area.
In other news, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana returned to Brussels after talks in Lebanon on the crisis. He expressed pessimism about prospects for an immediate ceasefire.
EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels are considering a draft resolution that calls for a de-escalation of the fighting and urges Israel not to act in a "disproportionate" manner.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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