US President Bush has blamed the Islamic militant group Hezbollah and Syria for the escalating violence in the Middle East, taking a sharper stance than Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was also critical of Israel.
At a joint news conference ahead of the meeting of G8 leaders in St Petersburg, Bush and Putin showed the divide that could dominate this weekend's meeting of world industrial leaders.
"In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place," Bush said. "And that's because Hezbollah has been launching rocket attacks out of Lebanon into Israel and because Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers."
Putin said it was unacceptable to try to reach political goals through abductions and strikes against an independent state. "In this context we consider Israel's concerns to be justified," he said.
At the same time, he said, "the use of force should be balanced."
Israel's war planes began striking Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others Wednesday in a cross-border raid into Israel. Since Wednesday, 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 fighting came at a time of tensions between Iran and Syria and the West. Foreign policy experts suggest that Iran and Syria believe the violence will strengthen their positions in their conflicts with the West and show they hold the key to a settlement of the Arab-Israeli issue.
The violence is a late but unavoidable addition to the agenda at the weekend summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations that was beginning with a dinner hosted by Putin Saturday night.
The G-8 countries - the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada - were expected to issue a joint declaration on the Lebanon crisis.
Bush said he and Putin, who held two hours of bilateral negotiations in advance of the meeting's start, were not able to agree on Russia's admission to the World Trade Organization.
The talks broke off because of differences over assurances the United States was seeking over the protection of US copyrights and patents and promises that Russia would accept greater amounts of US farm goods.
Bush said the administration believed Russia needed to offer more in trade concessions to satisfy the Congress.
He said both sides would continue to negotiate to get a deal. The United States is the only country that has yet to signoff on Russia's membership in the WTO.