CNN.com - Little progress in cooling Israel-Lebanon conflict

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora says Bush is "sincere" in his efforts to help Lebanon.

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(CNN) -- Diplomacy sputtered Friday in the Israel-Lebanon conflict, as President Bush was forced to walk a political tightrope, Iran lobbed threats and insults at Israel, and Lebanon pleaded for international intervention to no avail.

In a phone call, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora urged Bush to help persuade Israel to halt its attacks. Bush expressed support, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Siniora she would apply pressure to help achieve a cease-fire, according to the prime minister's office.

But White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush made no promises to Siniora that he would try to persuade the staunch U.S. ally to scale back the military assault on Lebanon that has destroyed infrastructure and left dozens of civilians dead.

News of the conversation came as the Pentagon was trying to figure out how to evacuate about 25,000 American citizens from Lebanon, military sources said. (Watch how the Pentagon plans to evacuate thousands of Americans -- 1:59)

In Russia for the G-8 summit, Bush reiterated his assertion that Israel had a right to defend itself, but again expressed concern that Israel could topple the U.S.-friendly Lebanese government that has been in place since the 2005 elections, the first after Syria ended its 30-year military occupation of the country.

Bush "believes that the Israelis have a right to protect themselves, and also that we think it's important that in doing that, they try to limit as much as possible so-called collateral damage, not only to facilities but also to human lives," Snow said.

En route to St. Petersburg, Russia, Bush called King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, both of whom he thanked for trying to help resolve the situation.

Bush 'sincere'

Siniora, whose country has been slammed with Israeli artillery and airstrikes since Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers Wednesday, said he thought Bush "is trying his best" to help Lebanon. (Watch Siniora talk about the assault on his country -- 5:00)

"I think that President Bush is very sincere in extending the necessary support for the Lebanese government, so that it can really do its job of bringing back peace, democracy into the country and, as well, stability," he said.

The prime minister also met with representatives from the five permanent members of the Security Council -- China, France, Britain, Russia and the United States -- in Beirut, officials in Siniora's office said.

At the United Nations, a representative of Lebanon's Foreign Ministry, Nouhad Mahmoud, asked the Security Council to take action to end "Israeli aggression," including the air and sea blockade. He also said the Lebanese government was not responsible for the capture of the Israeli soldiers.

"Israeli forces have not shied from targeting innocent civilians, thus violating all human rights, most importantly the right to life," he said. "Their forces have bombed peaceful villages, bringing homes over the heads of their inhabitants. More than 60 martyrs have fallen to date, mostly civilians. There are hundreds of injured." (Timeline for Israel-Lebanon conflict)

Several countries, including the United States, have said that the Lebanese government doesn't have the capacity to extend its authority in Hezbollah-held territory in southern Lebanon. Israel has nonetheless held the government responsible for the abductions and charged Beirut with the soldiers' safe release.

Syria, Iran and Hezbollah

Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman told the Security Council that Israel was acting in self-defense, and that Lebanon had been hijacked by terrorists backed by Syria and Iran.

He also said that some of the missiles that Hezbollah fired into northern Israel on Thursday were "made in Iran." When asked by CNN on Friday what role Syria or Iran may have played in the current crisis, Siniora said it would be "strange" for Hezbollah to have "done this alone." (Who is Hezbollah?)

The inflammatory language directed at Iran and Syrian is not sitting well with either country.

Imad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to Washington, took issue Wednesday with such remarks and with what he called the Bush administration's "flagrant bias toward Israel."

"The only party to blame for this collision of violence in the Middle East is Israel itself, with its continuous occupation and with the atrocities it has committed against the Palestinians, particularly in the past two months," Moustapha said. "Now, suddenly, it is Damascus once again, and it's Iran once again. Who is to blame for the results of their occupation?"

Enter Ahmadinejad

Fresh from a four-day visit to Azerbaijan, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lambasted the "Zionist invasion" of Lebanon, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

"The illegitimate, occupying and forged agent, which is supported by big powers, must end its aggression," Ahmadinejad said.

Speaking in the provincial Iranian city of Osku on Friday, Ahmadinejad said, "Attacks by the Zionist regime against its neighbors, notably Lebanon, Syria, and its threats against other countries in the region, are due to the fact that the artificial and sinister regime cannot live normally," IRNA reported.

Iranian television reported that Ahmadinejad called a Lebanese dignitary and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Thursday to express his support.

To Al-Assad, he added, "If the Zionist regime commits an act of idiocy and attacks Syria, it has to suffer a crushing response," Iranian television reported.

But while Hezbollah has its backers, Bush said Friday that he was pleased that many Arab nations were shunning the group, including Saudi Arabia, which has accused the militia of "uncalculated adventures."

"What is heartening to note is that a number of Arab nations, are, in fact, saying to Hezbollah, 'Sorry, you're on your own,'" Snow said. "What you're beginning to see is the Arab nations coming to the realization that independent actors and terrorist organizations like Hezbollah are an active threat to everybody, because a small number of people can work to destabilize not only a nation, but to aim at destabilizing a region." (Watch the Hezbollah leader call for 'open war' on Israel -- 2:14)

Snow also said other Arab governments have been talking to Syria "because it is pretty clear that Syria has considerable influence over what goes on there."

Hezbollah, which enjoys substantial backing from Syria and Iran, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel. The group holds 23 of the 128 seats in Lebanon's parliament.

Under the treaty that ended Lebanon's 15-year civil war in 1990, Hezbollah was allowed to retain its weaponry to fight Israeli troops then occupying southern Lebanon. It says it won't disarm until Israeli troops leave the disputed Shebaa Farms region near the Syria border, which the United Nations recognizes as Syrian territory.