UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that he was in contact with key leaders in the Middle East, urging restraint and pressing for the release of an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Palestinian militants earlier this week.

Annan told reporters at UN headquarters in New York that he had spoken with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on a reported agreement among the Palestinians.

"President Abbas was quite positive, and I think indeed if they have come to an agreement, which will require them to work together, and avoid the kind of development which was ebbing towards a civil war that we were all worried about, then of course we should all be very happy about it," he observed.

Annan said they had discussed the situation on the ground, the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier, the need to release him, and the need to de-escalate the volatile atmosphere.

Meanwhile, the secretary-general also said he had spoken to President Bashar al Assad of Syria on Tuesday morning, and hoped to speak to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Wednesday.

"I have urged restraint on all parties, and that is also one of the reasons why I will be talking to Prime Minister Olmert tomorrow morning," he noted.

"I spoke to President Assad ... we are all trying to find ways of helping defuse the situation," Annan said.

"I was talking to anyone who is likely to have influence on the situation to play a role and to use their influence to ensure that the prisoner was released, and that we are able to defuse the situation," the secretary-general added.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed, four others wounded and another was kidnapped during a deadly Palestinian militant attack on an Israeli army border post on Sunday.

Source: Xinhua