U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before the start of the meeting on the Lebanon crisis in Rome, July 26, 2006.

A special conference opened in Rome on Wednesday in a bid to secure a ceasefire between Israel and the radical Shi'ite movement Hezbollah and stem the humanitarian catastrophe unraveling in Lebanon,

"We're here to restore peace and stability to Lebanon in a context of security for Israel," Italian Premier Romano Prodi said ahead of the conference.

Foreign ministers from 15 countries, including Lebanon, are present at the conference, co-chaired by United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema.

But Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are not represented at the meeting.

D'Alema called for a donors' conference to help Lebanon repair the damage caused by 15 days of fighting, which has killed 418 people in Lebanon and 42 Israelis.

The conference opened under the shadow of the deaths of four UN observers killed in an Israeli air strike.

The conference also aimed to thrash out the terms of dispatching a United Nations buffer force to southern Lebanon, which is not liked by some key players such as Syria.

As for a ceasefire, the United States and Britain have indicated the conditions do not yet exist for an immediate halt to fighting. And Israel will not accept a ceasefire until its security demands are met.

An agreement on generous emergency aid is expected to come out at the end of the conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Rice, D'Alema, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora will attend a press conference at the end of the conference.

Source: Xinhua