U.S. envoy urges calm on Lebanon's southern border

BEIRUT, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Visiting U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein on Tuesday urged Lebanon and Israel to restore calm in southern Lebanon after weeks of confrontations in the region.

After his meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Hochstein called on all parties to respect and fully implement UN Resolution 1701.

"Maintaining calm on the southern Lebanese border is of utmost importance to the United States, and this should be the case for Lebanon and Israel. This is what UN Resolution 1701 stipulates, and that is why it was designed," he said.

UN Resolution 1701 was adopted in August 2006 to seek a full cessation of hostilities shortly after a month of deadly warfare between Israel and Hezbollah ended with a fragile truce.

Hochstein also met with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, with whom he reaffirmed the U.S. support for the Lebanese army in extending its power all over Lebanon's territories.

Hochstein said discussions were underway to reach a humanitarian truce in Gaza before moving to the other stages of the solution.

Confrontations on the Lebanon-Israel borders continued on Tuesday, killing two Hezbollah fighters, raising the death toll of the Shiite military group in the month-long conflict to 68.

Lebanese military sources told Xinhua that around 20 surface-to-surface missiles were fired from southern Lebanon toward northern Israel, targeting Israeli positions in Zaoura and Amfit emplacements at the southern end of the occupied Syrian Golan.

The sources added that Israel fired four patriot missiles in return, which fell in Lebanon's southern villages of Hasbaya and Arqoub.

The Lebanon-Israel border witnessed increased tension for a month after Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Shebaa Farms on Oct. 8 in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting the Israeli forces to respond by firing heavy artillery toward several areas in southeastern Lebanon.