Leaders at G-8 summit in Russia consider whether to send peacekeepers in to halt Mideast violence

(AP) World leaders sought to halt escalating violence in the Middle East, considering the possibility of sending international peacekeepers to stop Hezbollah from bombing Israel. Israel quickly rejected the idea.

The Mideast situation overshadowed the summit of world leaders where President Bush, unaware his remarks were being picked up by microphone, bluntly expressed his frustration with Hezbollah, a militant Islamic group believed backed by Iran and Syria.

"See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s--- and it's over," Bush told British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday as they chatted before the Group of Eight leaders began their final lunch.

Bush also suggested that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan call Syrian President Bashar Assad to "make something happen."

In Damacus, Iran's foreign minister said a cease-fire and an exchange of hostages would be an acceptable and fair deal in resolving the conflict. "In fact, there can be a cease-fire followed by a prisoner swap," said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who spoke after talks with Syria's vice president.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert opposes sending international forces to Lebanon to help end bloodshed, Israeli senior officials said. Olmert instead wants Lebanese forces to take control of the border area with Israel and wants the Hezbollah militia disarmed.

The warfare between Hezbollah and Israel generated reaction around the globe, and several nations made plans to evacuate their citizens.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had hoped to use the first G-8 summit on Russian soil to burnish his country's standing on the global stage, saw his summit priorities overshadowed by the Mideast crisis.

But he put the best face on the three days of discussions, telling a closing news conference that "all the aims which we had set ourselves have been achieved."

Putin said his nation would consider contributing troops to a U.N. peacekeeping force. The European Union said it also was considering deploying peacekeepers in Lebanon.

The United Nations already has a 2,000-man force in the region monitoring the line separating Israel and Lebanon. The proposed peacekeeping mission under consideration would presumably have a far broader mandate than the current force.

France said it is sending Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to Beirut to express support for Lebanon's government. And French President Jacques Chirac, who attended the summit, said he believed "some means of coercion" may be needed to enforce a U.N. resolution that calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah and other militias in Lebanon.

After his talks with Annan on the sidelines of the G-8 summit, Blair said, "The blunt reality is that this violence is not going to stop unless we create the conditions for the cessation of violence." He said the only way to do that is by sending an international force into the area that can "stop the bombardment over into Israel and therefore gives Israel a reason to stop its attacks on Hezbollah."

Asked about the comments on an international force, White House national security spokesman Frederick Jones said, "We're open to the possibility of that force being necessary."

The White House said it had nothing to announce about a trip to the Middle East by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, even though Bush was overheard telling Blair, "She's going. I think Condi's going to go pretty soon."

Annan, in a joint press appearance with Blair, appealed to Israel to abide by international law, spare civilian lives and infrastructure. "We should not inflict any more suffering on them," Annan said. "Both parties should bear that in mind and respect international humanitarian law."

At his closing G-8 news conference, Blair said assembling an international peacekeeping force could take time. He said Britain would work with other countries. He described British forces, which are part of the U.S.-led effort in Iraq, as "somewhat stretched."

The comments by Blair and Annan came a day after world leaders forged a unified response at their G-8 summit to the crisis in the Middle East, blaming Hezbollah and Hamas for the escalating violence and recognizing Israel's right to defend itself _ although they called on the Jewish state to show restraint.

"I am most pleased that the leaders came together to say, look, we condemn violence. We honor innocent life," Bush said before heading into a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "For the first time, we've really begun to address with clarity the root causes of the conflict ... and that is terrorist activity _ namely Hezbollah, that's housed and encouraged by Syria."

Bush also asserted that the militant Islamic group is financed by Iran. However, the G-8 statement does not mention Syria or Iran. Putin told reporters that Russia blocked the effort to name Syria.

"If we don't have enough grounds to blame somebody, we cannot ... put them in documents on such a serious state level just based on assertions," Putin said.

Bush's overheard remarks were picked up by the summit's closed-circuit television, which filmed the leaders as they dined. Normally, the images are transmitted with sound that does not allow reporters to pick out individual comments. But in this case, a microphone picked up Bush's comments to Blair.

On their final day of meetings, the leaders _ the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada _ focused on more traditional summit fare, such as restarting stalled global trade talks and implementing a major debt relief program for the world's poorest nations that was announced at last year's summit.

But the Mideast, North Korea and Iran claimed more of the spotlight.

The leaders called on North Korea to put a stop to its missile tests and to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

On Iran's nuclear ambitions, the leaders sought to keep up pressure for a U.N. resolution seeking sanctions.

The G-8 leaders also met on Monday with seven leaders of the developing world, including a trio of emerging economic powerhouses _ China, India and Brazil.

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Associated Press writers Jean Lee and Paisley Dodds contributed to this report.

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