BEIRUT — Lebanon’s western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Seniora said Lebanon has no interest in an “open war” on Israel as this would harm Hezbollah in addition to the Islamic and Arab causes, Lebanese reports quoted him yesterday as saying.

“I don’t believe we have an interest to wage an open war worldwide because this would be harmful to Hezbollah as well as to the Islamic and Arab causes,” Seniora was quoted as telling the Lebanese satellite channel Future TV.

“We have had an earlier experience. We must not repeat this experience,” Seniora said in reference to the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday declared “open war” on Israel after accusing the Jewish state of killing his top commander Imad Muganiyeh in a car bomb blast in Damascus at dawn the same day.

Referring to the Lebanese internal political crisis, Seniora said that the government will stay as long as it has the anti-Syrian ruling majority’s confidence.

Seniora urged Nasrallah and Christian leader General Michel Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who are close allies of Hezbollah, to “do what is best for an independent, Arab, free, diverse Lebanon.”

He called for presidential elections and the resumption of roundtable talks.

In reference to relations with neighboring Syria and its ally Iran, Seniora said Lebanon must help broker “historical reconciliation” between Tehran and the Arab world.

“We have deep-rooted cultural and historical relationships with Iran. We reject any attack on Iran, yet we reject its attempts to dominate Lebanon,” Seniora explained.

“We don’t want Lebanon to become an arena for regional conflicts, as we seek excellent relationships with all Arab nations and on top with sisterly Syria,” the premier said.

Syrian-Lebanese ties have been tense since former premier Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a car bomb blast in Beirut in February 2005. The anti-Syrian ruling majority blamed Hariri’s murder on Damascus and its Lebanese allies — a charge Syria has repeatedly denied.

Seniora stressed that it was essential to elect a president before the upcoming Arab summit in Damascus in late March.

“Should the Arab summit be held without Lebanese participation ... I leave the decision for the Arabs,” he said.

Lebanon has been without a president since last November when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term. A subsequent power struggle between the ruling majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition has left a continuing vacuum.

Also yesterday, German political magazine Der Spiegel reported that Israel considers the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah as dead.

According to the magazine, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was planning to publicly declare the two reservists dead.

Israeli newspapers have been publishing similar information over the past months.

Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped by the Hezbollah on July 12, 2006 ahead of Israel’s war with Lebanon.

According to Der Spiegel, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has refused in secret negotiations to give information on the soldiers as long as Israel refused to release Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar from prison.

Kuntar has been serving a prison sentence for a 1979 attack killing four Israelis.