BEIRUT, 6 August 2006 — France and the United States agreed yesterday on a proposed UN Security Council resolution calling for a full cessation of hostilities in Lebanon as Israel hammered the country with what police described as the heaviest bombardment of the 25-day-old conflict.
“An accord has been found between the French and Americans on the draft resolution on the Middle East prepared by France to call for a complete cessation of hostilities and work toward permanent cease-fire and long-term solution,” French President Jacques Chirac’s office said.
The resolution was to be submitted by France to the Security Council “in the interest of securing the widest agreement,” it added, without disclosing details.
The Security Council was to hold consultations at following the US-French agreement, the council president’s office said.
According to council procedure, a resolution could be adopted no earlier than today.
In Jeddah, King Abdullah held talks with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and called for a strong and unified Arab stand to confront the Israeli aggression in Lebanon.
King Abdullah and Moussa reviewed international efforts to end the ongoing Israeli campaign in Lebanon and occupied Arab territories, the Saudi Press Agency said in a report, adding that the king emphasized Saudi Arabia’s position in support of Lebanon.
Abdullah expressed the hope that the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Beirut would be successful in taking a firm Arab stand on Lebanon, living up to the expectations of Arab people. Crown Prince Sultan and Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal attended the Jeddah talks.
Earlier, UN chief Kofi Annan had spoken by telephone with both US President George W. Bush and Chirac, whose governments had been at odds for several days over how to phrase the world body’s first resolution on the conflict.
US Middle East envoy David Welch held talks yesterday with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri — a key Hezbollah ally — as well as Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
France, the former colonial power in Lebanon, commands the existing UN peacekeeping force deployed in the border area and is widely expected to lead a beefed up international force being advocated by Israel and its US ally.
But it has qualms about the circumstances in which the force would be deployed and the terms of its mandate.
In the space of seven hours yesterday, Israel hit Lebanon with around 250 air raids and some 4,000 shells, wounding at least 14 people, police said.
The single village of Aitaroun near the border endured a barrage of 2,000 rounds.
Israeli artillery was systematically leveling 15 villages within five kilometers (three miles) of the border after Israeli leaders vowed to create a security zone free of Hezbollah fighters in the area, the police added.
Israeli planes dropped pamphlets over parts of southern Lebanon warning the residents that Hezbollah positions in the town of Sidon and elsewhere would be bombarded, the army said.
