Hizbollah attack on UN observers

Internal links

Bush tells Israel: enough is enough

George Bush: 'Leadership not terror is needed for peace'

Troops accused of trying to storm Nativity church

Six major West Bank towns in Israeli hands

EU persists with call for mediation

Kurdish leader survives Saddam assassination bid

Blair and Bush will hold a united front

Leading article: What the Prime Minister should tell the President down at the ranch

Robert Fisk: A speech laced with obsessions and little else

Adrian Hamilton: Europe does have influence over Israel and should use it now

Three unarmed United Nations observers and two armed peace-keepers were hurt in scuffles with Hizbollah forces in southern Lebanon yesterday, the UN peace-keeping force commander said.

General Lalit Tewari, of India, said Lebanese authorities had voiced concern over the fight and that Hizbollah had assured the UN that the incident will not be repeated.

The scuffle broke out after a UN observer patrol reached the village of Mari, near the site of clashes on Wednesday between Hizbollah forces and Israeli troops in the disputed Shebaa Farms area near the Lebanese-Israeli border.

The observers – from Ireland, Norway and France – were confronted by about 10 Hizbollah gunmen who would not let them pass. An argument broke out and the gunmen attacked. A separate UN peace-keeping patrol manned by armed Indian officers was near by and intervened.

In Lebanon, Staffan de Mistura, the representative of the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, met the Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri, yesterday to discuss rising tensions in the country's south. (AP)