Top Iraq Shi'ite cleric calls for Lebanon ceasefire

BAGHDAD, July 31: Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has warned that the Muslim world will not forgive countries which stand in the way of a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

''The Islamic world and peace loving people will not excuse sides which hinder a ceasefire. It will have harmful consequences in the whole region,'' he said in a statement issued late last evening, in a clear reference to the United States.

The United States has opposed calling for an immediate ceasefire. Both Israel and the United States have said such a ceasefire would be meaningless unless Hizbollah could no longer carry out raids and rocket attacks and the Shi'ite militia was eventually disarmed as demanded by a UN resolution.

Sistani condemned as an ''ugly crime'' an Israeli air strike that killed at least 54 civilians in the Lebanese village of Qana yesterday. Thirty-seven children were killed in the raid.

The raid triggered worldwide demands for a truce in the Jewish state's war against Shi'ite Hizbollah militants.

Sistani is seen as a key moderating voice in Iraq, where sectarian violence has raised fears of civil war between majority Shi'ites and Sunnis.

Reuters