EU worries West Asia conflict could spread to Syria

HELSINKI, July 14 (Reuters) The European Union today expressed concern that the situation in West Asia could deteriorate further after Israel's military offensive in Lebanon, with conflict possibly spreading to Syria.

''We consider the situation to be very bad and there is still the possibility that it could get worse and that the conflict could spread, especially to Syria,'' said Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja of Finland, which holds the rotating EU presidency.

''This is in no way desirable. The consequences could be really uncontrollable,'' he told a news conference.

Tuomioja said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana would go tomorrow to the Middle East and that there might be a meeting of the ''quartet'' which has tried to revive peace talks.

''The U.N. representatives are travelling today to the region, Solana will be there tomorrow, I expect, and we know that there are lower level American representatives also talking with the governments,'' he told Reuters.

''I am sure the Russians are also there. At present, there is no scheduled meeting of the quartet, but that could take place very shortly.'' REUTERS PKS HS2119