The European Union expressed concern yesterday at the violence in Lebanon, calling on all sides to show restraint and criticising Israel for causing civilian casualties with bomb attacks.
A statement issued by the Portuguese presidency of the EU said the violence could endanger the Middle East peace process.
"The European Union has been following very closely the situation in southern Lebanon and expresses its deep concern at the escalation of the hostilities, its regret at the deaths and injuries which this has caused," it said in a statement.
In Washington, President Clinton said he was working "very, very hard" to try to revive Middle East peace talks undermined by the most serious violence in Lebanon in eight months. "What we need is to stop the violence and start the peace process going again," he said.
Iraq, meanwhile, condemned the bombing and said peace talks would never change the Jewish state's policy towards Arabs. "All its slogans of a peaceful settlement are nothing but a means to reinforce its occupation of Arab land," the official Iraqi News Agency quoted a spokesman for the Ministry of Culture and Information as saying.
He accused the US of siding with Israel, saying that Washington "was encouraging the Zionist entity to continue its expansionist policy against Arab territories". He also urged all Arab countries to adopt a firm stand against "Zionist aggression and terrorism on Lebanon".
The Palestinians, who have suspended their own peace talks with Israel, condemned the raids as "state terrorism".
Sheikh Sultan bin Zaid alNahayan, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, meanwhile has called for "the highest degree of co-ordination" among Arab states to face the challenges posed by Israel, according to the official WAM news agency.
In Rabat, the official MAP news agency reported that Morocco condemned attacks on civilian targets and called on the international community to intervene rapidly to stop them. "Morocco follows with great concern the Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory affecting unarmed civilians, raiding their homes and hitting infrastructure," MAP quoted a statement from the foreign ministry as saying.
Morocco was surprised by raids which "took place at a time when hopes were pinned on a fair and global solution" to the Middle East crisis after the launch of peace talks between Syria and Israel, MAP said.
"Morocco urges the world community to intervene rapidly and in a resolute manner to stop the raids," it added.
On Wednesday Israeli planes attacked suspected guerrilla targets in south Lebanon for the second day in retaliation for Hizbullah's killing of six Israeli soldiers over the past two weeks.
Morocco and Israel established low-level diplomatic ties through liaison bureaux in 1994.