Lavrov to attend meeting in Rome, chalk out Lebanon solution

Moscow, July 24 (UNI) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will participate in the Foreign Ministers meeting on the situation in Lebanon in Rome, next Wednesday.

''Foreign Ministers of Russia, the US, Britain, France, Italy, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt would take part in the meeting to find ways to resolve the latest West asia crisis,'' Mr Mikhail Kamynin, official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Itar-Tass today.

Meanwhile, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov arrived in Tel Aviv today to hold talks with his Israeli counterparts in an effort to end the conflict arising due to Israeli air attacks.

Mr Saltanov, as an special emissary of Mr Lavrov, has already discussed the situation in Syria and Jordan. Before his visit to Tel Aviv, he discussed the crisis with the Lebanese leadership.

Sources in the Russian delegation told the agency that the Russian diplomat will ''brief Israeli leaders on Moscow's position''.

Earlier, Mr Lavrov called for the cease-fire for the conflict settlement, saying the ''sides should implement all the measures outlined in the G-8 statement,'' which included the release of hostages, stopping mutual shelling and release of the members of the Palestinian administration and Parliament.

Israelis have insisted on the immediate release of the abducted soldiers and liquidation of the infrastructure of the Hizbollah group. They also demanded that the Lebanese government and the Army assume control over southern Lebanon, where Shiite radicals operate.

Against this background, the statement by Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz calling for brining NATO peacekeepers to the conflict zone was rather unexpected, the agency pointed out.

Observers note a connection between his statements and the visit to the region by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that begins today, it said, adding, Ms Rice had already called for deploying an additional contingent of peacekeepers in the region, but without US participation.

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