MOSCOW, July 28: Any agreements aimed at resolving the Israel-Lebanon conflict should include coordination with Hezbollah, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
“Any agreements should be coordinated with all the main forces in Lebanon, including Hezbollah, which is represented in the parliament and government of Lebanon,” Lavrov was quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency as saying, while on his way home to Moscow from a regional summit in Malaysia.
Lavrov said that this position was shared by European countries and had also been voiced by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
“As for American support for this position, I don’t have such information for the moment but I’m sure that without an all-embracing resolution there will be no long-term sustainable peace,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov also reiterated Russia’s call for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the current conflict.
“Like the Europeans, we believe that immediately after a ceasefire it is necessary to work out a multi-faceted agreement that would solve several problems — first of all the security of both Lebanon and Israel,” he said.
Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a member along with the European Union, the United Nations and the United States of the diplomatic “quartet” for Middle East peace.
Concerning the possible deployment of international peacekeepers, Lavrov said: “I don’t think there will be many (countries) wanting to send their contingents to this region.
“What’s needed is not only an end to violence but agreement about steps that could end the long-term reasons for restarting violence,” he said.—AFP
