ITALY: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora arrive for Rome crisis talks

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora arrived in Rome late on Tuesday (July 25) ahead of an international meeting on the Middle East crisis on Wednesday (July 26). Rice flew in from the troubled region, where she held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defence minister Amir Peretz in Jerusalem, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah. She visited bomb-battered Beirut on Monday (July 24), and said it was time for a "new Middle East". Some Arabic and European nations are expected to use the conference to call for an immediate ceasefire. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said the main objective of the Rome meeting would be to secure a ceasefire, despite Washington and Israel's belief it can only lay the groundwork. Rice has made clear she was not seeking a quick ceasefire and that any solution should address the root causes of the conflict -- for which Washington and Israel blame Hizbollah and its backers in Iran and Syria. Later on Tuesday British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett arrived for the talks, having earlier said Iranian and Syrian support for Hizbollah guerrillas is fanning extremism in the Middle East and threatening stability. Beckett called on Iran and Syria to end their backing of Hizbollah in accordance with United Nations resolutions and stop meddling in Lebanese affairs. Humanitarian relief would be high on the agenda of the Rome conference, as well as moves to build up the Lebanese government and put together a stabilisation force, she added. Hizbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 in a cross-border raid sparked an Israeli onslaught on Lebanon in which more than 400 people have died in Lebanon, as well as 41 Israelis. Israel meanwhile has said it would accept an international force to dislodge Hizbollah guerrillas from the border. One of the key sticking points for a ceasefire in Lebanon is the sequence of events. Many Lebanese politicians want a ceasefire first. Israel wants Hizbollah to leave the border area immediately and free the captured soldiers without conditions. Israel is not invited to the Rome talks and neither is Syria, which is accused of backing Hizbollah.

ITN Source | July 26, 2006

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