UNITED NATIONS: Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is weakening Lebanon’s government while doing little or nothing to undermine popular support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday.

In a speech to the UN Security Council, Annan called for an immediate end to the fighting and proposed sending an international force to southern Lebanon to bolster the Lebanese army so it can fully deploy along the border with Israel, where Hezbollah fighters now have de facto control.

But Israeli UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman said Israel would not stop fighting until it had achieved its goals while US Ambassador John Bolton said he could not see how a government could reach an agreement with a “terrorist group” such as Hezbollah.

“We have no timeline,” Gillerman said. “Diplomacy can take off only after terror has been taken care of.” He scolded Annan for not mentioning the role of Syria or Iran in the crisis.

Bolton said a Syrian government decision to bar veteran UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed Larsen from travelling to Damascus was frustrating the Security Council’s efforts to get a complete picture of the crisis in order to help resolve it.

“Now we see more clearly the role Syria has been playing in frustrating efforts to bring this to a conclusion,” Bolton said.

Annan accused Hezbollah of holding “an entire nation hostage” by abducting Israeli troops and firing rockets on Israel. He condemned Israel for using excessive force in Lebanon, which he said weakened the Beirut government, killed innocent people and was wrecking the country.

The secretary general said the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah on July 12 should be transferred to the Beirut government under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, with a view to their return to Israel and a ceasefire. - Reuters