Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on Wednesday talked via phone with head of the Lebanese Future Movement Bloc Saadeddine Hariri, exchanging views on the latest Middle East situation.

 

Li said the conflicts between Lebanon and Israel had caused the mass loss of people and damaged a lot of infrastructure, worsening the Middle East situation, according to a foreign ministry statement.

 

China called for the two parties involved in the conflict to cease fire so as not to escalate the situation, the statement said.

 

Israel has intensified its air raids on Lebanese targets since launching a massive assault on July 12 when Lebanon's Hezbollah guerillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in cross-border attacks.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2006)