BEIRUT (voa) – Lebanon says U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will pay an unscheduled visit to Beirut Monday, for talks with President Emile Lahoud on easing border tensions with Israel.
The meeting, which has not been publicly confirmed by U.S. officials, comes amid growing international efforts to end daily cross-border rocket and artillery attacks by Hezbollah guerrillas on Israeli targets.
The Iranian-backed guerrilla movement began shelling Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa farms region, the occupied Golan Heights and inside Israel itself late last month.
The attacks began after Israel invaded West Bank towns and cities seeking to root out terrorists and end a spate of suicide bombings against Israeli targets. Israel has responded to the Hezbollah attacks with near-daily artillery and airstrikes on targets in southern Lebanon.
On Friday, Iran joined U.N. officials and Western governments in calling for restraint in the Lebanon-Syria border area.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, during a visit to Beirut last week, warned that continued Hezbollah strikes could provide Israel with a pretext to widen the Middle East crisis.
