Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi criticized Israel on Friday for the scale of its attacks on Lebanon and called on both sides to halt hostilities immediately.

Prodi said he recognized Israel's "legitimate" worries about its security and condemned the kidnapping of its soldiers which sparked the current offensive against its northern neighbor.

Reading out a statement after a cabinet meeting, the premier also noted that Italy had already condemned the launching of rockets into Israel by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

But he stressed that, as far as Israel was concerned, "the use of force has gone beyond what anyone predicted."

"We deplore this escalation and the serious damage to Lebanon's infrastructure and the civilian victims that these raids have caused," he said.

Israeli planes on Friday continued to bomb targets inside Lebanon including Beirut airport and highways as it tightened an air, sea and land blockade.

The Israeli offensive was launched on Wednesday after Hezbollah fighters staged an incursion into Israeli territory, killing several soldiers and seizing two more.

Prodi, who said he had spoken to the Lebanese prime minister three times since Thursday, said Rome was putting pressure on the Lebanese government to obtain the release of the captured soldiers.

"I am deeply worried about the spiral of violence which makes it hard to return to dialogue. We are really going back 20 years and all effort put into the Road Map in recent years risks being in vain."

Prodi appealed to both sides to cease hostilities and said Italy supported the European Union (EU) and UN missions to the region. He urged Israel to allow Italian and other foreign citizens trapped in Lebanon to leave the country.

Italy is pushing for moves by the EU and the G8 to stop the escalating violence, Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said on Thursday.

The G8 countries are scheduled to meet in St Petersburg, Russia, at the weekend.

Source: Xinhua