UNITED NATIONS, July 22: A UN official said on Friday that there were ‘serious obstacles’ to achieving a comprehensive ceasefire in the Lebanese conflict, calling on the Security Council to take urgent action for alleviating the suffering of civilians.

“The Secretary-General and the Secretariat are working on the political, peacekeeping and humanitarian fronts to respond to this deep regional crisis,” Vijay Nambiar, who led a team of veteran United Nations officials to the Middle East recently, told the Council during a special session on the situation in Lebanon.

Dwelling on the devastation, he said: “We would welcome a united stance by the Security Council.”

Mr Nambiar said he had met Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during his tour of the Middle East.

He said the Lebanese prime minister had expressed inability to negotiate a ceasefire as he had no influence with Hezbollah.

About his meetings with Israeli leaders, Mr Nambiar said they blamed Hezbollah for the flare-up and had made it clear that the offensive would not end unless Hezbollah were weakened.

Despite such difficult negotiating positions, Mr Nambiar saw two vital political goals for the international community in the days ahead — the first of which is to secure a cessation of hostilities. “This is essential so that the captives are protected and released, humanitarian access is assured, civilian casualties are dramatically reduced, and the political space is opened to negotiate a full and durable ceasefire.”

“The second is to develop quickly the elements of a political framework that would pave the way for such a ceasefire, some of which had been suggested by Secretary-General Annan in his briefing to the Council and included a strengthened international peacekeeping force.”