The United Nations today urged restraint against further military escalation after attacks near the Lebanon-Israel border that killed a French officer, an Israeli soldier and a Hizbollah militant.
"This is the time to maintain calm, this is the time not to go into escalation and yesterday we came very close to this," said Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy in south Lebanon.
"We are asking all sides now to contain their actions and to control the actions on the ground," he told reporters. His comments came as Middle East peace hopes were boosted by Sunday's election of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian president and the Israeli parliament endorsed Ariel Sharon's new coalition to implement his planned Gaza pullout. In New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan "condemned the military escalation" and underlined the responsibility of all sides to safeguard UN personnel.
"He urges Israel and Lebanon to exercise maximum restraint and not further jeopardize the relative quiet that has characterized the Blue Line (border) for the past six months," UN spokesman Mr Stephane Dujarric said.
The Blue Line refers to a frontier drawn up by the United Nations when Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000.
The French military observer was hit by a barrage of Israeli tank and machine gun fire that followed a Hizbollah roadside bomb attack on an Israeli patrol on the Israeli side of the line in the Shebaa Farms.