Leaders of the G8 group of world powers called for "an end to Israeli military operations" in the Middle East and demanded that "extremists" stop shelling Israeli territory. In a statement agreed in Russia after emergency talks on the crisis, they also demanded the safe return of Israeli soldiers captured by armed groups and the release of arrested Palestinian ministers and lawmakers.
"The most urgent priority is to create conditions for a cessation of violence that will be sustainable," said the text agreed by the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
It identified a list of conditions required for this to happen, including "an end to Israeli military operations and the early withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza" as well as a halt to attacks on Israel.
"Those extremist elements and those that support them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos and provoke a wider conflict," the statement said. The G8 leaders also urged the United Nations to consider deployment of an "international security/monitoring presence" in Lebanon.
Afterward, French President Jacques Chirac called for the rapid disarming of all militias in Lebanon. Speaking before the statement was agreed, American President George W. Bush said that "as a sovereign nation, Israel has every right to defend itself against terrorist activity. "Our message to Israel is defend yourself, but be mindful of the consequences. And so we've urged restraint," Bush said.
Earlier Sunday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair pointed his finger more directly at Damascus and Tehran. "The fact is there are people in that region, notably Iran and Syria, who do not want this process of democratization and peace and negotiation to succeed," he said.
Meanwhile, at least 43 Lebanese died Sunday in Israeli strikes. In the deadliest raid, 20 civilians were killed and 50 others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a building housing the civil defense department and topped by a radio transmitter in Tyre, the LBCI said.
Six civilians, three of them children, were also died late Sunday when Israeli aircraft targeted the southern border village of Aitarun, police said.
