World leaders on Saturday expressed alarm and anger at the upsurge in violence in the Middle East and sought a solution to the crisis, though differences over who bore responsibility emerged between the United States and some of its partners.
Before the formal opening of the G8 summit of industrialised nations in St Petersburg, presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and George W. Bush of the United States called for an end to the escalating crisis as they sought to paper over a rift over Israel's role.
At a joint public appearance after talks here, Bush blamed the violence squarely on Hizbollah, demanding the group "lay down its arms" and insisting Syria pressure it to end attacks on Israel.
"The best way to stop the violence is for Hizbollah to lay down its arms, and to stop attacking. And, therefore, I call upon Syria to exert influence over Hizbollah," Bush said.
He did not accuse Israel of responsibility in the conflict, but he did not repeat an earlier assertion either that "Israel has the right to defend herself," which had widely been read as giving the US ally a free hand.
Putin, for his part, did not repeat his charge of a "disproportionate" Israeli answer to Hizbollah rocket attacks from Lebanese territory and the abduction of two of its soldiers.
Russian defence minister Sergei Ivanov warned of a "real threat" that the Middle East crisis could drag other countries in the region into the conflict.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan charged that Western powers were "keeping mum" over mounting bloodshed in the Middle East, warning that they would "pay the bill" by facing more terrorist attacks, Anatolia news agency reported.
"Bombs are exploding, innocent people are being killed, infrastructures are being destroyed... The powerful continue to crush the weak, but unfortunately those who hold the power in the world are keeping mum," Erdogan said in the north-eastern city of Artvin.
"Those who back global peace (only) with words will sooner or later pay the bill by facing global terrorism... This is what is provoking terrorism," he was quoted as saying.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called on Israel to "end hostilities" and respect "international law".
He also said that events in the Middle East should make those countries that had unleashed the "unjustified military intervention in Iraq" reflect.
"Those who pushed for the war in Iraq told us that after the intervention a horizon of peace would open up," he told a meeting in Ibiza in the Balearic Islands.
"I hope the lesson given by the facts will make them stop and think."
The war in Iraq had been a "disaster" which had led to "radicalisation, fanaticism, conflict and instability in the region," he said.
Saad Hariri, Lebanon's parliamentary majority leader, urged the international community to stop Israel's "aggression" on his country and for fellow Arab states to take a strong stand.
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