Bush blames Hezbollah for Middle East violence

St Petersburg: US President George W Bush blamed the Islamic militant group Hezbollah and Syria for the esculating violence in the Middle East.

At a news conference on Saturday, Bush said, "In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place. And that's because Hezbollah has been launching rocket attacks out of Lebanon into Israel and because Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers."

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that Hezbollah?s political goals through abductions and strikes against an independent state were unjustified, but said the use of force should be considered carefully.

"In this context we consider Israel's concerns to be justified," he said. "[But] the use of force should be balanced."

Israel began striking Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others on Wednesday in a cross-border raid into Israel. Since then, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israel.

"The best way to stop the violence is for Hezbollah to lay down its arms and to stop attacking," Bush said. "And therefore, I call on Syria to exert influence over Hezbollah."

The topic is likely to be the focus of talks at the G8 summit in St Petersburg.