The United States has urged Israel, Lebanon and Syria not to let violence escalate along the Lebanon-Israel border.
State Department spokesman Mr Philip T Reeker said Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to convey the message Monday. Other American diplomats talked with Syrian and Lebanese officials about the situation, Mr Reeker said.
"We think it's important that we have maximum restraint exercised by the parties and avoid any further escalation in the situation there," Mr Reeker said.
He said US diplomats have urged Syria and Lebanon to exercise control over the Hezbollah guerrillas, who killed an Israeli teenager in rocket attack Sunday.
Israel destroyed a Hezbollah cannon with an airstrike in southern Lebanon today but indicated it would avoid large-scale responses to the teen's killing.
"Hezbollah is a terrorist group full of people eager to disrupt" the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and "the calm that we saw for some many months this year" along the border, Mr Reeker said.
He said there were no plans for Assistant Secretary of State Mr William Burns, who is on a Middle East trip, to add the Syrian capital, Damascus, to his itinerary.
The Bush administration wants to avoid any escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border that might spark new Israeli-Palestinian fighting, in a lull since Palestinian militant groups declared a cease-fire six weeks ago.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian areas have ties to the Lebanese group Hezbollah.