(RIA Novosti) - A former Russian prime minister and expert on the Arab world urged the global community Wednesday to send a peacekeeping force to the Israel-Lebanon conflict zone to prevent hostilities from spilling over to other countries.
"I fear other nations may find themselves drawn into the conflict," Yevgeny Primakov, who now heads Russia's Industry and Commerce Chamber, told reporters. "UN forces are needed there to bring the warring sides apart and kick-start [peace] negotiations." The military conflict was sparked last week by the killing of eight Israeli soldiers and the abduction of two others by militants from the Islamist group Hizbollah, based in Lebanon. Israel has since been hitting Hizbollah sites to secure the release of the captured soldiers. Hizbollah has been firing rockets into Israeli territory in response, reports Trend.
Primakov said Israel's actions in Lebanon had gone "beyond the scope of a purely anti-terrorist operation" because it was destroying the country's infrastructure - not just that of Hizbollah - and its air raids had claimed many civilian lives.
"It is unsettling that our Western partners have started the evacuation of civilians [from Lebanon]," he said. "Everyone expects an all-out war."
Primakov also voiced alarm at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's allegations that Iran had provoked the hostilities to divert world leaders' attention from its controversial nuclear program during last weekend's Group of Eight summit near St. Petersburg.
"There is a dangerous trend toward escalation behind Olmert's statements," he said.
According to Primakov, one other factor likely to aggravate the Israeli-Arab conflict is the U.S.-led coalition's latest operation in Iraq, which he believes has deepened a communal divide between the Sunni and the Shi'ite Muslims.
But he said he was quite optimistic about Lebanon's ability to recover.
"I know that Lebanon, where I worked as a correspondent, can rise from the ashes like a Phoenix," he said. "The Lebanese are a special breed of people; they are very practically-minded, they love their country and can do quite a lot [for it]. But for now the imperative is to end the war."